EKKELEY 


VEHSITY  or 

UIFORNIA 


NCES 
^RY 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  CHARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


3RARY 

VBtSITY  O 

UIFORNIA 

FH 

NCES 

\RY 


GEOLOGICAL    SKETCHES 
AT    HOME  AND   ABROAD 


GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES 


AT  HOME  AND  ABROAD 


BY 

ARCHIBALD   GEIKIE,   LL.D.,    F.R.S., 

DIRECTOR-GENERAL  OK   THE   GEOLOGICAL  SURVEYS   OF   THE   UNITED   KINGDOM 


WITH   ILLUSTRATIONS 


gorfc 

MACMILLAN   AND   CO. 
1892 


PREFACE. 

THE  Essays  here  collected  and  revised  have  appeared 
at  intervals  in  various  journals,  and  I  have  to  express 
my  thanks  to  the  Councils  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Edinburgh  and  the  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
and  to  the  Editors  and  Publishers  of  Nature,  Good 
Words,  and  Macmillaris  Magazine^  for  their  freely 
accorded  permission  to  reprint  them.  Most  of  the 
papers  being  records  of  geological  rambles,  I  have 
introduced  into  them  a  fc-w  illustrative  sketches  from 
my  notebooks. 

EDINBURGH,  i$th  March  1889. 


CONTENTS. 

I.  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION 

II.  "  THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY  "                    .           .  . 

III.  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN     .  . 

IV.  THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK       .           .           .  - 
V.  AMONG  THE  VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE  . 

VI.  THE  OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND        . 
VII.  A  FRAGMENT  OF  PRIMEVAL  EUROPE     .  .  . 

VIII.  ROCK-WEATHERING  MEASURED  BY  THE  DECAY  OF 
TOMBSTONES  ...... 

IX.  IN  WYOMING      .  .  .  .  .  . 

X.  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE    .  .  . 

XI.  THE  LAVA-FIELDS  OF  NORTH-  WESTERN  EUROPE        . 
XII.  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY        .        .  . 

XIII.  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION       .... 

XIV.  THE  GEOLOGICAL  INFLUENCES  WHICH  HAVE  AFFECTED 

THE  COURSE  OF  BRITISH  HISTORY        .  .  . 


EARTH 

SCIENCES 

LIBRARY 


PAGE 

i 

22 

40 

59 

74 

109 

145 

159 

180 
206 
239 
250 
272 

307 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FIG.  PAGE: 

1.  "The  Old  Man  of  Hoy."     (Sketched  from  the  Sea)            .  26 

2.  View  of  the  Flagstone  Cliffs  of  Holburn  Head,  Caithness    .  33 

3.  View  of  Flagstone  Cliffs,  Brough  of  Birsay,  Orkney             .  34 

4.  View  of  the  Gneiss  Cliffs  near  Cape  Wrath  ...  37 

5.  View  of  part  of  the  Cliffs  near  St.  Abb's  Head        .            .  38 

6.  View  from  the  top  of  the  Puy  de  Pariou       .  .  .91 

7.  Ice-worn  bosses  of  gneiss  and  perched  blocks.     North  coast 

of  Sutherland      .  .  .  .  .  113 

8.  Map  of  the  Neighbourhood  of  the  Holands  Fjord  (Munch)        117 

9.  View  of  the  two  Glaciers  of  Fondalen,  Holands  Fjord         .       119 

10.  Longitudinal  Section  of  smaller  Glacier.     Fondalen  .       121 

11.  Sketch-map  of  lower  and  of  larger  Glacier.     Fondalen        .       123 

12.  Sections    across    the   lower    end    of   the    larger    Glacier. 

Fondalen  .  .  .  .  .  .124 

13.  Map  of  the  Jb'kuls  Fjeld  promontory  (after  Munch) .  .       132 

14.  View  of  Jokuls  Fjord  Glacier  ....       134 

15.  Section  of  Foot  of  Jokuls  Fjord  Glacier        .  .  .136 

1 6.  View  of  Glaciers  at  the  head  of  Nus  Fjord  .  .  .141 

17.  Section  on  beach  at  Nus  Fjord         ....       143 

1 8.  Section  on  beach  at  Ardmarnock,  Loch  Fyne          .  .       143 

19.  Ben  Leagach,  Glen  Torridon  .  .  .  .149 

20.  View  of  the  ancient  platform  of  gneiss  looking  eastward  from 

above  Scourie,  Sutherlandshire  .  .  «  .151 


x  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

KJG.  'AGB 

21.  Ben  ShieWag,  Loch  Torridon  .  .  „  .153 

22.  View  of  outlier  of  Cambrian  breccia  and  sandstone  among 

gneiss  hills  near  Gairloch  .  155 

23.  Sections  of  the  junction  of  the  fundamental   gneiss  and 

overlying  Cambrian  breccia.     Gairloch  .  .  .,157 

24.  Microscopic  structure  of  white  marble  employed  in   Edin- 

burgh tombstones  .  .  .  .  .163 

25.  Terraces  of  Great    Salt    Lake,   along  the    flanks   of   the 

Wahsatch  Mountains,  south  of  Salt  Lake  City   .  .       211 

26.  Alluvial  Cones  of  the  Madison  Valley  .  .  .215 

27.  Terraces  below  the  second  canon  of  the  Yellowstone  .       219 

28.  "  Old  Faithful "  in  eruption  .....       229 

29.  View   on   the    Snake   River,    Idaho.      Basalt    Plain    with 

younger  volcanic  cones    .....       237 


GEOLOGICAL    SKETCHES 

AT   HOME   AND   ABROAD. 

I. 

MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.1 

Tis  an  old  story  now,  so  far  back,  indeed,  that  I  hardly 
like  to  reckon  up  the  years  that  have  since  passed  away. 
But  clear  and  bright  does  it  stand  in  my  memory,  not- 
withstanding, that  quiet  autumnal  afternoon,  with  its  long 
country  ramble  to  an  old  quarry,  the  merry  shouts  of  my 
schoolmates,  the  endless  yarns  we  span  by  the  way,  and 
the  priceless  load  of  stones  we  bore  homeward  over  those 
weary  miles,  when  the  sun  had  sunk,  red  and  fiery,  in  the 
west,  and  the  shadows  of  twilight  began  to  deepen  the 
gloom  of  the  woods.  Many  a  country  ramble  have  I 
made  since  then,  but  none,  perhaps,  with  so  deep  and 
hearty  an  enjoyment,  for  it  opened  up  a  new  world,  into 
which  a  fancy  fresh  from  the'  Arabian  Nights  and  Don 
Quixote  could  adventurously  ride  forth. 

Up  to  that  time  my  leisure  hours,  after  school-lessons 
were  learnt,  and  all  customary  games  were  played,  had 
been  given  to  laborious  mechanical  contrivances,  based 

1  Good  Words,  1861. 
*  B 


2  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [i 

sometimes  on  most  preposterous  principles.  For  a  while 
I  believed  I  had  discovered  perpetual  motion.  Day  and 
night  the  vision  haunted  me  of  a  wheel  turning,  turning, 
in  endless  revolutions;  and  what  was  not  this  wheel  to 
accomplish?  It  was  to  be  the  motive-power  in  every 
manufactory  all  through  the  country,  to  the  end  of  time,  to 
be  called  by  my  name,  just  as  other  pieces  of  mechanism 
bore  the  names  of  other  inventive  worthies,  in  that  treasure 
of  a  book  The  Century  of  Inventions.  Among  various  con- 
trivances I  remember  striving  hard  to  construct  a  boat  that 
should  go  through  the  water  by  means  of  paddles,  to  be 
worked  by  a  couple  of  men,  or,  failing  them,  by  a  horse ; 
but  though  I  founcl  (if  my  memory  serve  me)  that  my 
hero,  the  old  Marquis  of  Worcester,  had  anticipated  the 
invention  by  almost  200  years,  I  could  not  succeed  in 
getting  the  paddles  to  move  except  when  the  boat  was  out 
of  the  water,  and  so  the  grand  contrivance,  that  might  have 
made  its  discoverer  famous  in  every  harbour  in  the  king- 
dom, fell  to  the  ground. 

The  Saturday  afternoons  were  always  observed  by  us 
as  a  consecrated  holiday-time,  all  school-work  being  then 
consigned  to  a  delightful  oblivion.  To  learn  a  lesson 
during  these  hours  was  regarded  as  something  degenerate 
and  wholly  unworthy  of  the  dignity  of  a  schoolboy. 
Besides,  we  had  always  plenty  of  work  of  some  kind  to  fill 
up  the  time,  and  what  the  nature  of  that  work  was  to  be 
for  the  ensuing  Saturday  had  usually  been  determined  long 
before  the  coveted  Saturday  came.  Sometimes,  if  the 
weather  was  dull,  my  comrades  repaired  to  my  room 
(which  we  dignified  as  "the  workshop")  to  hear  a  dis- 
quisition on  the  last  invention,  or  to  help  if  they  could  in 
removing  some  troublesome  and  apparently  insuperable 
mechanical  difficulty.  Or  we  planned  a  glorious  game  of 


i]  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  3 

cricket,  or  golf,  or  football,  that  seldom  came  to  a  close 
until  the  evening  grew  too  dark  for  longer  play.  In 
spring-time  we  would  sally  forth  into  the  country  to  some 
well -remembered  bank,  where  the  primroses  and  violets 
bloomed  earliest,  and  return  at  dusk,  bringing  many  a 
bunch  for  those  at  home.  The  summer  afternoons  often 
found  us  loitering,  rod  in  hand,  along  the  margin  of  a 
shady  streamlet,  in  whose  deeper  pools  the  silvery  trout- 
let  loved  to  feed.  And  it  fed,  truly,  with  little  danger  from 
us.  The  writhing  worm  (we  never  soared  to  the  use  of  the 
fly),  though  ever  so  skilfully  and  unfeelingly  twined  round 
the  hook,  failed  to  allure  the  scaly  brood,  which  we  could 
see  darting  up  and  down  the  current  without  so  much 
as  a  nibble  at  our  tempting  bait.  Not  so,  however,  with 
another  member  of  that  tribe,  the  little  stickleback,  or 
"  beardie,"  as  we  called  it,  to  which  we  had  the  most 
determined  and  unreasonable  antipathy.  The  cry  of  "  A 
beardie  1  a  beardie ! "  from  one  of  our  party  was  the  sign 
for  every  rod  and  stick  to  be  thrown  down  on  the  bank, 
and  a  general  rush  to  the  spot  where  the  enemy  of  the 
trout  had  been  seen.  Oif  went  stockings  and  shoes,  and 
in  plunged  the  wearer,  straight  to  the  large  stone  in  mid- 
channel  under  which  the  foe  was  supposed  to  be  lurking. 
Cautiously  were  the  fingers  passed  into  the  crevices  and 
round  the  base  of  the  stone,  and  the  little  victim,  fairly 
caught  at  last  in  his  den,  was  thrown  in  triumph  to  the 
bank,  where  many  a  stone  was  at  hand  to  end  his  torments 
and  his  life. 

Autumn  brought  round  the  cornfields,  and  the  hedge- 
rows rich  in  hip,  and  haw,  and  bramble ;  and  then,  dear 
to  the  heart  of  schoolboy,  came  winter  with  its  sliding, 
skating,  and  snowballing,  and  its  long,  merry  evenings,  with 
their  rounds  of  festivity  and  plumcake. 


4  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [i 

"Tis  an  old  story,  truly ;  but  I  remember  as  if  it  had 
been  yesterday,  how  my  Saturday  employments  were 
changed,  and  how  the  vagrant,  careless  fancies  of  the 
schoolboy  passed  into  the  settled  purposes  that  have 
moulded  the  man.  I  had  passed  a  Saturday  afternoon 
alone,  and  next  day  as  usual  met  my  comrades  at  church. 
On  comparing  notes,  I  found  that  the  previous  afternoon 
they  had  set  out  for  some  lime-quarries,  about  four  miles 
off,  and  had  returned  laden  with  wonders — plants  of  strange 
form,  with  scales,  teeth,  and  bones  of  uncouth  fishes,  all 
embedded  in  the  heart  of  the  stone,  and  drawn  out  of  a 
subterranean  territory  of  almost  fabulous  extent  and  gloom. 
Could  anything  more  marvellous  have  been  suggested  to  a 
youthful  fancy  ?  The  caverns  of  the  Genii,  even  that  of 
the  Wonderful  Lamp,  seemed  not  more  to  be  coveted.  At 
least  the  new  cave  had  this  great  advantage  over  the  old 
ones,  that  I  was  sure  it  was  really  true ;  a  faint  suspicion 
having  begun  to  arise  that,  possibly,  after  all,  the  Eastern 
caverns  might  have  no  more  tangible  existence  than  on  the 
pages  of  the  story-book.  But  here,  only  four  miles  from 
my  own  door,  was  a  real  cavern,  mysterious  beyond  the  power 
of  my  friends  to  describe,  inhabited  by  living  men  who 
toiled  like  gnomes,  with  murky  faces  and  little  lamps  on 
their  foreheads,  driving  waggons,  and  blasting  open  the 
rock  in  vast  and  seemingly  impenetrable  galleries,  where 
the  sullen  reverberations  boomed  as  it  were  for  miles  among 
endless  gigantic  pillars  and  sheets  of  Stygian  water  that 
stretched  away  deep  and  dark  into  fathomless  gloom.  And 
in  that  rock,  wrapped  up  in  its  substance  like  mummies  in 
their  cerements,  lay  heaps  of  plants  of  wondrous  kinds  • 
some  resembled  those  of  our  woods  and  streams,  but  there 
were  many,  the  like  to  which  my  companions  declared  that 
even  in  our  longest  rambles  they  had  never  seen  on  bank, 


i]  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  5 

or  brake,  or  hill ;  —  fishes,  too,  there  were,  with  strong 
massive  scales,  very  different  from  our  trouts  and  minnows. 
Some  of  the  spiny  fins,  indeed,  just  a  little  resembled  our 
foe  the  "  beardie."  Very  likely  (thought  I),  the  Genius  of 
the  cave  being  a  sensible  fellow,  has  resolved  to  preserve 
his  trout,  and  so  with  a  murrain  on  the  beardies  has  buried 
them  bodily  in  the  rock. 

But  above  all,  in  these  dark  subterranean  recesses 
lurked  the  remains  of  gigantic  reptiles ;  and  one  of  the 
quarrymen  possessed  a  terrific  tusk  and  some  fragmentary 
scales,  which  he  would  have  sold  to  my  friends  could  their 
joint  purse  have  supplied  the  stipulated  price. 

My  interest  in  the  tale,  of  course,  increased  at  every 
new  incident ;  but  when  they  came  to  talk  of  reptiles,  the 
exuberant  fancy  could  contain  itself  no  longer.  "  Dragons  ! 
dragons  !"  I  shouted,  and  rubbed  my  hands  in  an  ecstasy 
of  delight.  "  Dragons,  boys,  be  sure  they  are,  that  have 
been  turned  into  stone  by  the  magic  of  some  old  necro- 
mancer." 

They  had  found  too,  in  great  abundance,  what  they  had 
been  told  were  "coprolites" — that  is,  as  we  afterwards 
learnt,  the  petrified  excrement  of  ancient  fishes.  "  Copper- 
lites,"  thought  I,  nay,  perchance  it  might  be  gold ;  for  who 
ever  read  of  such  a  famous  cavern  with  petrified  forests, 
fishes,  and  dragons,  that  had  not  besides  huge  treasures  oi 
yellow  gold  ? 

So  there  and  then  we  planned  an  excursion  for  the 
following  Saturday.  The  days  that  intervened  stretched 
themselves  somehow  to  an  interminable  length.  It  seemed 
the  longest  week  of  my  life,  even  though  every  sleeping 
and  waking  hour  was  crowded  with  visions  of  the  wondrous 
cavern.  At  length  the  long  expected  morning  dawned,  and 
soon  brightened  up  into  a  clear,  calm  autumnal  day. 


6  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [l 

We  started  off  about  noon ;  a  goodly  band  of  some 
eight  or  nine  striplings,  with  two  or  three  hammers,  and  a 
few  pence  amongst  us,  and  no  need  to  be  home  before 
dusk.  An  October  sun  shone  merrily  out  upon  us ;  the 
fields,  bared  of  their  sheaves,  had  begun  to  be  again  laid 
under  the  plough,  and  long  lines  of  rich  brown  loam  alter- 
nated with  bands  of  yellow  stubble,  up  and  down  which 
toiled  many  a  team  of  steaming  horses.  The  neighbouring 
woods,  gorgeous  in  their  tints  of  green,  gold,  and  russet, 
sent  forth  clouds  of  rooks,  whose  noisy  jangle,  borne  onward 
by  the  breeze,  and  mingling  with  the  drone  of  the  bee  and 
the  carol  of  the  lark,  grew  mellow  in  the  distance,  as  the 
cadence  of  a  far-off  hymn.  We  were  too  young  to  analyse 
the  landscape,  but  not  too  young  to  find  in  every  feature 
of  it  the  intensest  enjoyment.  Moreover,  our  path  lay 
through  a  district  rich  in  historic  associations.  Watch-peels, 
castles,  and  towers  looked  out  upon  us  as  we  walked,  each 
with  its  traditionary  tales,  the  recital  of  which  formed  one 
of  our  chief  delights.  Or  if  a  castle  lacked  its  story,  our 
invention  easily  supplied  the  defect.  And  thus  every  part 
of  the  way  came  to  be  memorable  in  our  eyes  for  some 
thrilling  event  real  or  imaginary — battles,  stern  and  bloody, 
fierce  encounters  in  single  combat,  strange  weird  doings 
of  antique  wizards,  and  marvellous  achievements  of  steel- 
clad  knights,  who  rambled  restlessly  through  the  world  to 
deliver  imprisoned  maidens. 

Thus  beguiled,  the  four  miles  seemed  to  shrink  into 
one,  and  we  arrived  at  length  at  the  qifarries.  They  had 
been  opened,  I  found,  along  the  slope  of  a  gentle  declivity. 
At  the  north  end  stood  the  kilns  where  the  lime  was  burnt, 
the  white  smoke  from  which  we  used  to  see  some  miles 
away.  About  a  quarter  of  a  mile  to  the  south  lay  the 
workings  where  my  comrades  had  seen  the  subterranean 


i]  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  7 

men;  and  there  too  stood  the  engine  that  drew  up  the 
waggons  and  pumped  out  the  water.  Between  the  engine 
and  the  kilns  the  hillside  had  all  been  mined  and  exhausted; 
the  quarrymen  having  gradually  excavated  their  way  south- 
wards to  where  we  saw  the  smoking  chimney  of  the  engine- 
house.  We  made  for  a  point  midway  in  the  excavations ; 
and  great  indeed  was  our  delight,  on  climbing  a  long  bank 
of  grass-grown  rubbish,  to  see  below  us  a  green  hollow,  and 
beyond  it  a  wall  of  rock,  in  the  centre  of  which  yawned  a 
dark  cavern,  plunging  away  into  the  hill  far  from  the  light 
of  day.  My  companions  rushed  down  the  slope  with  a 
shout  of  triumph.  For  myself,  I  lingered  a  moment  on 
the  top.  With  just  a  tinge  of  sadness  in  the  thought,  I  felt 
that  though  striking  and  picturesque  beyond  anything  of 
the  kind  I  had  ever  seen,  this  cavern  was  after  all  only  a 
piece  of  human  handiwork.  The  heaps  of  rubbish  around 
me,  with  the  smoking  kilns  at  the  one  end  and  the  clanking 
engine  at  the  other,  had  no  connection  with  beings  of 
another  world,  but  told 'only  too  plainly  of  ingenious,  inde- 
fatigable man.  The  spell  was  broken  at  once  and  for  ever, 
and  as  it  fell  to  pieces,  I  darted  down  the  slope  and  rejoined 
my  comrades. 

They  had  already  entered  the  cave,  which  was  certainly 
vast  and  gloomy  enough  for  whole  legions  of  gnomes.  The 
roof,  steep  as  that  of  a  house,  sloped  rapidly  into  the  hill- 
side beneath  a  murky  sheet  of  water,  and  was  supported  by 
pillars  of  wide  girth,  some  of  which  had  a  third  of  their 
height,  or  more,  concealed  by  the  lake,  so  that  the  cavern, 
with  its  inclined  roof  and  pillars,  half  sunk  in  the  water, 
looked  as  though  it  had  been  rent  and  submerged  by  some 
old  earthquake.  Not  a  vestige  of  vegetation  could  we  see 
save,  near  the  entrance,  some  dwarfed  scolopendriums  and 
pale  patches  of  moss.  Not  an  insect,  nor  indeed  any  living 


8  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  i] 

thing  seemed  ever  to  venture  down  into  this  dreary  den. 
Away  it  stretched  to  the  right  hand  and  the  left,  in  long 
withdrawing  vistas  of  gloom,  broken,  as  we  could  faintly  see, 
by  the  light  which,  entering  from  other  openings  along  the 
hillside,  fell  here  and  there  on  some  hoary  pillar,  and  finally 
vanished  into  the  shade. 

It  is  needless  to  recall  what  achievements  we  performed; 
how,  with  true  boyish  hardihood,  we  essayed  to  cliinb  the 
pillars,  or  crept  along  the  ledges  of  rock  that  overhung  the 
murky  water,  to  let  a  ponderous  stone  fall  plump  into  the 
depths,  and  mark  how  long  the  bubbles  continued  to  rise 
gurgling  to  the  surface,  and  how  long  the  reverberations  of 
the  plunge  came  floating  back  to  us  from  the  far-off  recesses 
of  the  cave.  Enough,  that,  having  satisfied  our  souls  with 
the  wonders  below  ground,  we  set  out  to  explore  those 
above. 

"But  where  are  the  petrified  forests  and  fishes?"  cried 
one  of  the  party.  "  Here  !"  "  Here  !"  was  shouted  in  reply 
from  the  top  of  the  bank  by  two  of  the  ringleaders  on  the 
previous  Saturday.  We  made  for  the  heap  of  broken  stones 
whence  the  voices  had  come,  and  there,  truly,  on  every 
block  and  every  fragment  the  fossils  met  our  eye,  some- 
times so  thickly  grouped  together  that  we  could  barely  see 
the  stone  on  which  they  lay.  I  bent  over  the  mound,  and 
the  first  fragment  that  turned  up  (my  first-found  fossil)  was 
one  that  excited  the  deepest  interest.  The  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  first  excursion,  who  was  regarded  (perhaps  as 
much  from  his  bodily  stature  as  for  any  other  reason)  an 
authority  on  these  questions,  pronounced  my  treasure-trove 
to  be,  unmistakably  and  unequivocally,  a  fish.  True,  it 
seemed  to  lack  head  and  tail  and  fins ;  the  liveliest  fancy 
amongst  us  hesitated  as  to  which  were  the  scales ;  and  in 
after  years  I  learned  that  it  was  really  a  vegetable — the 


[I  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  9 

seed-cone  or  catkin  of  a  large  extinct  kind  of  club-moss ; 
but,  in  the  meantime,  Tom  had  declared  it  to  be  a  fish, 
and  a  fish  it  must  assuredly  be. 

The  halo  that  broke  forth  from  the  Wizard's  tomb  when 
William  of  Deloraine  and  the  Monk  of  St.  Mary's  heaved 
at  midnight  the  ponderous  stone  was  surely  not  brighter, 
certainly  not  so  benign  in  its  results,  as  the  light  that  now 
seemed  to  stream  into  my  whole  being,  as  I  disinterred 
from  their  stony  folds  these  wondrous  relics.  Like  other 
schoolboys,  I  had,  of  course,  had  my  lessons  on  geology 
in  the  usual  meagre,  cut-and-dry  form  in  which  physical 
science  was  then  taught  in  our  schools.  I  could  repeat  a 
"  Table  of  Formations,"  and  remembered  the  pictures  of 
some  uncouth  monsters  on  the  pages  of  our  text-books — 
one  with  goggle-eyes,  no  neck,  and  a  preposterous  tail ; 
another  with  an  unwieldy  body,  and  no  tail  at  all,  for 
which  latter  defect  I  had  endeavoured  to  compensate  by 
inserting  a  long  pipe  into  his  mouth,  receiving  from  our 
master  (Ironsides,  we  called  him)  a  hearty  rap  across  the 
knuckles,  as  a  recompense  for  my  attention  to  the  creature's 
comfort.  But  the  notion  that  these  pictures  were  the  re- 
presentations of  actual,  though  now  extinct  monsters,  that 
the  matter-of-fact  details  of  our  text-books  really  symbolised 
living  truths,  and  were  not  invented  solely  to  distract  the 
brains  and  endanger  the  palms  of  schoolboys ;  nay,  that 
the  statements  which  seemed  so  dry  and  unintelligible  in 
print  were  such  as  could  be  actually  verified  by  our  own 
eyes  in  nature,  that  beneath  and  beyond  the  present 
creation,  in  the  glories  of  which  we  revelled,  there  lay 
around  us  the  memorials  of  other  creations  not  less  glorious, 
and  infinitely  older,  and  thus  that  more,  immensely  more, 
than  our  books  or  our  teachers  taught  us  could  be  learnt 
by  looking  at  nature  for  ourselves — all  this  was  strange  to 


10  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [, 

me.  It  came  now  for  the  first  time  like  a  new  revelation, 
one  that  has  gladdened  my  life  ever  since. 

We  worked  on  industriously  at  the  rubbish  heap,  and 
found  an  untold  sum  of  wonders.  The  human  mind  in  its 
earlier  stages  dwells  on  resemblances,  rather  than  on 
differences.  We  identified  what  we  found  in  the  stones 
with  that  to  which  it  most  nearly  approached  in  existing 
nature,  and  though  many  an  organism  turned  up  to  which 
we  could  think  of  no  analogue,  we  took  no  trouble  to  dis- 
criminate wherein  it  differed  from  others.  Hence,  to  our 
imagination,  the  plants,  insects,  shells,  and  fishes  of  our 
rambles  met  us  again  in  the  rock.  There  was  little  that 
some  one  of  the  party  could  not  explain,  and  thus  our  lime- 
stone became  a  more  extraordinary  conglomeration  of 
organic  remains,  I  will  venture  to  say,  than  ever  perturbed 
the  brain  of  a  geologist.  It  did  not  occur  at  the  time  to 
any  of  us  to  inquire  why  a  perch  came  to  be  embalmed 
among  ivy  and  rose  leaves  ;  why  a  sea-shore  whelk  lay 
entwined  in  the  arms  of  a  butterfly  ;  or  why  a  beetle  should 
seem  to  have  been  doing  his  utmost  to  dance  a  pirouette 
round  the  tooth  of  a  fish.  These  questions  came  all  to  be 
asked  afterwards,  and  then  I  s-aw  how  egregiously  erroneous 
had  been  our  boyish  identifications.  But,  in  the  meantime, 
knowing  little  of  the  subject,  I  believed  everything,  and 
with  implicit  faith  piled  up  dragon-flies,  ferns,  fishes,  beetle- 
cases,  violets,  sea-weeds,  and  shells. 

The  shadows  of  twilight  had  begun  to  fall  while  we  still 
bent  eagerly  over  the  stones.  The  sun,  with  a  fiery  glare, 
had  sunk  behind  the  distant  hills,  and  the  long  lines  of 
ruddy  light  that  mottled  the  sky  as  he  went  down  had  crept 
slowly  after  him,  and  left  the  clouds  to  come  trooping  up 
from  the  east,  cold,  lifeless,  and  gray.  The  chill  of  evening 
now  began  to  fall  over  everything,  save  the  spirits  of  the 


i]  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  n 

treasure-seekers.  And  yet  they  too  in  the  end  succumbed. 
The  ring  of  the  hammer  became  less  frequent,  and  the 
shout  that  announced  the  discovery  of  each  fresh  marvel 
seldomer  broke  the  stillness  of  the  scene.  And,  as  the 
meanings  of  the  night-wind  swept  across  the  fields,  and 
rustled  fitfully  among  the  withered  weeds  of  the  quarry,  it 
was  wisely  resolved  that  we  should  all  go  home. 

Then  came  the  packing  up.  Each  had  amassed  a  pile 
of  specimens,  well-nigh  as  large  as  himself,  and  it  was 
of  course  impossible  to  carry  everything  away.  A  rapid 
selection  had  therefore  to  be  made.  And  oh !  with  how 
much  reluctance  were  we  compelled  to  relinquish  many  of 
the  stones,  the  discovery  whereof  had  made  the  opposite 
cavern  ring  again  with  our  jubilee.  Not  one  of  us  had  had  the 
foresight  to  provide  himself  with  a  bag,  so  we  stowed  away 
the  treasures  in  our  pockets.  Surely  practical  geometry 
offers  not  a  more  perplexing  problem  than  to  gauge  the 
capacity  of  these  parts  of  a  schoolboy's  dress.  So  we  loaded 
ourselves  to  the  full,  and  marched  along  with  the  fossils 
crowded  into  every  available  corner. 

Despite  our  loads,  we  left  the  quarry  in  high  glee. 
Arranging  ourselves  instinctively  into  a  concave  phalanx, 
with  the  speaker  in  the  centre,  we  resumed  a  tale  of  thrill- 
ing interest,  that  had  come  to  its  most  tragic  part  just  as 
we  arrived  at  the  quarry  several  hours  before.  It  lasted 
all  the  way  back,  beguiling  the  tedium,  darkness,  and  chill 
of  the  four  miles  that  lay  between  the  limeworks  and  our 
homes ;  and  the  final  consummation  of  the  story  was  art- 
fully reached  just  as  we  came  to  the  door  of  the  first  of  the 
party  who  had  to  wish  us  good-night. 

Such  was  my  first  geological  excursion — a  simple  event 
enough,  and  yet  the  turning-point  in  a  life.  Thenceforward 
the  rocks  and  their  fossil  treasures  formed  the  chief  subject 


12  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [i 

of  my  every-day  thoughts.  That  day  stamped  my  fate,  and 
I  became  a  geologist. 

And  yet,  I  had  carried  home  with  me  a  strange  medley 
of  errors  and  misconceptions.  Nearly  every  fossil  we  found 
was  incorrectly  named.  We  believed  that  we  had  discovered 
in  the  rock  organisms  which  had  really  never  been  found 
fossil  by  living  man.  So  far,  therefore,  the  whole  lesson 
had  to  be  unlearned,  and  a  hard  process  the  unlearning 
proved  to  be.  But  (what  was  of  infinitely  more  consequence 
at  the  time  than  the  correct  names,  or  even  the  true  nature 
of  the  fossils)  I  had  now  seen  fossils  with  my  own  eyes, 
and  struck  them  out  of  the  rock  with  my  own  hand.  The 
meaning  of  the  lessons  we  had  been  taught  at  school  began 
to  glimmer  upon  me;  the  dry  bones  of  our  books  were 
touched  into  life ;  the  idea  of  creations  anterior  to  man 
seemed  clear  as  a  revealed  truth ;  the  fishes  and  plants  of 
the  lime-quarry  must  have  lived  and  died,  but  when  and 
how  ?  was  it  possible  for  me  to  discover  ? 

These  quarries  proved  to  our  schoolboy  band  a  never- 
ending  source  of  delight.  They  formed  the  goal  of  many 
a  Saturday  ramble.  The  fishing-rod  and  basket  gave  place 
to  hammer  and  bag ;  even  our  bats  and  balls  and  "  shinties  " 
were  not  unfrequently  forsaken.  Our  love  of  legends,  too, 
went  on  increasing,  every  walk  giving  rise  to  two  or  three 
new  ones,  extemporised  for  the  occasion,  and  of  course 
forgotten  nearly  as  soon  as  invented. 

Frequent  visits  made  us  better  acquainted,  not  only 
with  the  quarries  but  with  the  quarrymen,  and  our  ideas 
of  the  one  were  considerably  influenced  by  our  impression 
of  the  other.  There  were,  I  remember,  three  very  distinct 
groups  of  workmen.  The  kilns  at  the  north  end  were 
tended  by  a  marked  set  of  men.  They  seemed  to  be 
mostly  Irishmen,  whose  duty  it  was  to  unload  the  waggons 


I]  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  13 

of  limestone  into  the  kilns,  and  keep  up  the  supply  of  coal. 
The  deep  pits  in  which  the  rock  was  calcined  sent  up  an 
intolerable  heat,  and  gave  out  a  thick,  white,  stifling  smoke, 
that  curled  and  drifted  about  with  every  veering  of  the  wind. 
Creeping  cautiously  to  within  a  short  way  of  the  edge  of 
these  fiery  abysses,  we  could  mark  the  red-hot  rock  crack- 
ing, and  the  coal  flaming  up  from  below  it.  The  Irishmen, 
however,  would  march  round  the  brink  without  a  trace  of 
fear  or  hesitation,  and  then,  after  the  firing  of  the  kilns, 
would  squat  themselves  in  the  lee  of  a  wall,  an  uncouth, 
sooty-faced  company,  each  with  a  pipe,  or  else  an  oath,  in 
his  mouth.  We  never  cultivated  very  closely  the  acquaint- 
ance of  the  kiln -men,  an  uneasy  apprehension  constantly 
arising  that,  on  the  slightest  provocation,  one  of  us  might 
be  tumbled  into  the  pit,  and  never  more  be  seen  or 
heard  of. 

Very  different  in  the  nature  of  their  work,  and  equally 
different  in  their  disposition,  were  the  men  who  tended  the 
waggons  which  the  engine  drew  up  from  the  quarry.  They 
had  once  worked  below  ground,  but  had  now  an  easier 
post,  their  sole  duty  being  to  wheel  off  the  full  waggons  as 
these  came  up,  and  to  put  empty  ones  on  the  rails  to  be  let 
down  the  slope  into  the  mouth  of  the  excavation.  One  of 
them  had  lost  a  leg  in  his  subterranean  service,  and  was 
therefore  somewhat  slow  in  his  movements.  He  had  built 
himself  a  rude  hut,  with  a  fireplace  and  a  wooden  bench  : 
and  there  I  have  often  sat  with  him,  and  listened  to  his 
elucidation  of  the  fossils,  and  his  ideas  of  cosmogony  in 
general.  He  was  never  at  a  loss  for  an  explanation  of  any 
of  the  numerous  fossils  which  he  picked  out  of  the  lime- 
stone blocks  that  came  up  from  the  quarry.  Some  of  his 
.fellow- workmen  maintained  that  rock  and  fossil  were  all 
created  together,  but  my  friend  was  a  long  way  ahead  of 


I4  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [i 

them.  He  was  certain  that  the  plants  in  the  rock  must 
have  once  bloomed  green  on  the  land,  and  that  the  fishes 
must  have  darted  through  the  water.  His  Bible  told  him 
of  a  great  flood  that  had  destroyed  mankind  and  covered 
the  lands  which  they  inhabited ;  and  he  had  no  manner  of 
doubt  that  the  fishes  and  plants  of  the  limestone  were 
memorials  of  that  great  inundation,  and  therefore  contem- 
poraries of  Noah  and  the  Ark. 

The  third,  and  by  much  the  most  numerous,  group  of 
workmen,  were  those  whose  labour  went  on  underground — - 
blasting  and  quarrying  the  limestone,  and  then  wheeling  it 
in  waggons  along  the  galleries  to  the  mouth  of  the  quarry, 
whence  it  was  drawn  up  by  the  engine.  Murky  and  grim, 
each  with  a  slouched  cap,  from  the  front  of  which  hung  a 
little  lamp,  they  formed,  nevertheless,  a  merry  company, 
keeping  up  a  ceaseless  din  of  hammering  in  these  gloomy 
regions,  save  at  intervals  when  a  blast-hole  was  charged 
with  gunpowder,  and  then  all  hurried  away  behind  some 
of  the  huge  pillars  until  the  explosion  was  over.  It 
was  during  one  of  these  pauses  that  I  first  made  their 
acquaintance.  With  one  or  two  companions,  I  had  been 
prying  into  the  mouth  of  the  quarry,  and  venturing  for 
some  way  within,  until,  as  the  daylight  grew  dim,  our 
courage  failed,  and  we  returned.  A  rumbling  noise  gradu- 
ally approached,  and  there  at  last  emerged  from  the  dark- 
ness a  full  waggon,  with  a  grimy  workman  pushing  it  from 
behind.  The  lamp  that  flickered  on  his  forehead  added 
greatly  to  his  uncouthness  as  he  came  into  the  full  light 
of  day ;  and  it  was  not  without  some  hesitation  that  we 
accepted  his  invitation  to  hold  on  by  the  end  of  an  empty 
truck,  and  return  witji  him  into  the  innermost  recesses  of 
the  quarry.  It  was  a  long  journey,  and  of  course,  save  foi 
the  feeble  glimmer  of  the  lamp  in  his  cap,  in  total  darkness 


r]  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  15 

Eventually  we  began  to  hear  the  sound  of  clinking  hammers, 
and  then  in  the  dim  distance  we  saw  little  lights  moving  to 
and  fro.  The  sounds  ceased  as  we  approached,  and  the 
lights  drew  nearer,  until  we  found  ourselves  in  the  centre 
of  a  group  of  begrimed  workmen,  which  increased  in  num- 
bers every  moment  as  the  men  hurried  from  different  parts 
of  the  workings  to  be  out  of  the  way  of  an  impending 
blast. 

They  gathered  round  us,  and  examined  our  hammers 
as  well  as  the  specimens  we  had  procured.  One  fossil  had 
especially  puzzled  us,  which  we  now  submitted  to  the 
decision  of  our  subterranean  acquaintances.  One  of  them 
—styled  by  his  comrades  "  the  Philosopher,"  a  tall,  wiry, 
young  man — took  the  stone,  and  after  eyeing  it  gravely  for 
a  few  seconds,  pronounced  it  to  be  an  oyster-shell.  I 
could  see  no  resemblance  on  which  to  found  such  a 
decision  ;  but  the  dictum  of  "  Lang  Willie "  seemed  to 
settle  the  matter  finally  in  the  eyes  of  the  quarrymen. 
Seating  himself  on  a  large  prostrate  block  of  limestone,  and 
stuffing  his  short  pipe  into  his  pocket,  he  proceeded  to 
point  out  to  the  company  the  evidence  that  the  scene  of 
their  labours  had  once  been  under  the  sea.  There  was 
the  oyster-shell  to  begin  with.  Surely  none  of  us  could 
dispute  that  oysters  only  lived  in  the  sea,  and  therefore,  as 
the  oyster  occurred  in  the  quarry,  the  quarry  must  once 
have  formed  part  of  the  sea-bottom  ?  Then  there  were  the 
scales,  bones,  and  teeth  of  fishes,  very  much  longer  than  trout 
or  any  "siclike"  fresh-water  fish,  and  these  must  have  dwelt 
in  the  sea.  Besides  this,  he  sometimes  noticed  a  white 
powder  crusting  the  rock  like  a  sprinkling  of  salt,  and  the 
stone  had  occasionally  what  Trinculo  would  have  called 
"an  ancient  and  fishlike  smell,"  that  to  Willie's  mind  clearly 
bespoke  the  former  presence  of  the  sea.  All  this  and 


16  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [i 

more  was  told  at  considerable  length,  with  many  a  flourish 
of  the  fist,  to  the  great  apparent  comfort  and  satisfaction 
of  his  brother-workmen. 

And  there  was  some  truth  in  the  reasoning.  His  facts, 
indeed,  would  not  stand  a  very  close  scrutiny ;  even  the 
little  experience  I  had  at  the  time  enabled  me  to  see  their 
erroneousness ;  but  his  deductions,  had  the  premises  been 
sound,  were  fair  enough.  They  showed,  at  least,  a  habit 
of  thonghtfulness  and  observation  much  rarer  among  this 
class  of  men  than  we  should  expect  to  find  it. 

Such  were  my  earliest  clinical  instructors  in  geology. 
With  the  help  of  their  crude  notions,  added  to  our  own 
boyish  fancies,  those  of  our  number  who  cared  to  think 
out  the  subject  at  all  strove  to  solve  the  problems  that  the 
quarry  suggested.  I  cannot  recall  the  process  of  inquiry 
among  my  comrades.  But  I  well  remember  how  it  went 
on  with  myself.  Our  early  identifications  of  all  that  we 
saw  in  the  rock  with  something  we  had  seen  in  living 
nature  were  unconsciously  abandoned.  I  gradually  came 
to  learn  the  true  character  of  most  of  the  fossils,  and 
recognised,  too,  that  there  was  much  which  I  did  not 
understand,  but  might  fairly  attempt  to  discover.  The 
first  love  of  rarities  and  curiosities  passed  away,  and  in  its 
place  there  sprang  up  a  settled  belief  that  in  these  gray 
rocks  there  lay  a  hidden  story,  if  one  could  only  get  at 
the  key. 

There  was  no  one  within  our  circle  of  acquaintance 
from  whom  any  practical  instruction  in  the  subject  could 
be  obtained.  Probably  this  was  a  piece  of  good  fortune 
for  those  of  us  who  had  the  courage  to  persevere  in  the 
quest  for  knowledge.  I  can  remember  the  long  com- 
munings  we  had  as  to  the  nature  of  this  or  that  organism, 
and  its  bearing  on  the  history  of  the  limestone.  The 


r]  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  17 

text-books  were  of  little  service.  So,  thrown  back  upon 
ourselves,  we  allowed  our  fancy  to  supply  what  we  could 
obtain  in  no  other  way.  The  ferns  and  other  land-plants 
found  in  the  limestone,  together  with  the  minute  cyprids,  of 
which  the  rock  seemed  in  some  places  almost  wholly  com- 
posed, and  the  scales,  bones,  and  teeth  of  ganoid  fishes, 
indicated,  as  far  as  we  could  learn,  that  the  deposit  had 
accumulated  in  fresh  water,  perhaps  in  a  lake  or  in  the 
estuary  of  a  river.  But  of  course  it  was  natural  that  we 
should  try  to  discover  what  might  have  been  the  general 
aspect  of  the  country  when  the  animals  and  plants  of  the 
limestone  were  alive.  We  asked  ourselves  if  the  same 
hills  existed  then  as  now ;  if  perchance  the  old  river  that 
swept  over  the  site  of  the  quarry  took  its  rise  among 
yonder  pastoral  glens;  if  the  same  sea  rolled  in  the  distance 
then  as  now,  curling  white  along  the  same  green  shore. 
Happily  ignorant  of  how  far  we  had  here  ventured  beyond 
our  depth,  it  was  not  until  after  much  questioning  and 
disappointment  that  I  found  these  problems  to  require 
years  of  patient  research.  The  whole  country  for  many 
miles  round  had  yet  to  be  explored,  and  minute  observations 
to  be  made  before  even  an  approximation  to  a  reliable 
answer  could  be  given.  But  a  boy's  fancy  is  an  admirable 
substitute  for  the  want  of  facts.  I  did  feel  at  times  a 
little  sorry  that  no  evidence  turned  up  on  which  to  ground 
my  restoration  of  the  ancient  topography  of  the  district,  or 
rather  that  such  a  world  of  work  seemed  to  rise  before  me 
ere  I  could  obtain  the  evidence  that  was  needed.  But  the 
feeling  did  not  last  long.  And  so  I  conjured  up  the  most 
glorious  pictures  of  an  ancient  world,  where,  as  in  the  land 
of  the  lotus-eaters,  it  was  always  afternoon,  and  one  could 
dream  away  life  among  isles  clothed  with  ferns  and  huge 
club-mosses,  and  washed  by  lakes  and  rivers  that  lay  with- 

c 


IS  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [i 

out  a  ripple,  save  now  and  then  when  some  glittering 
monster  leapt  out  into  the  sunlight,  and  fell  back  again  with 
a  sullen  plunge. 

Happy  afternoons  were  these  !  To  steal  away  alone 
among  the  cornfields,  and  feast  the  eye  on  hill  and  valley, 
with  their  green  slopes  and  bosky  woods  and  gray  feudal 
towers,  and  on  the  distant  sea  with  the  white  sails  speckled 
over  its  broad  expanse  of  blue.  And  then  when  every  part 
of  that  well-loved  scene  had  been  taken  in,  to  let  loose  the 
fancy  and  allow  the  landscape  to  fade  like  a  dissolving  view 
until  every  feature  had  fled,  and  there  arose  again  the  old 
vanished  lakes,  and  rivers,  and  palmy  isles. 

About  two  miles  from  the  spot  where  we  began  our 
geological  labours  lay  another  quarry,  from  which  lime  had 
been  extracted.  When  we  first  heard  of  it  from  our  one- 
legged  friend  at  the  engine-house,  we  set  it  down  as  a  con- 
tinuation of  his  limework,  the  caverns  of  which  seemed  to 
run  on  underground  to  an  indefinite  length.  There  seemed 
nothing  unlikely  in  the  identification  of  two  limestones  only 
two  miles  distant  from  each  other  as  part  of  one  seam.  So 
a  Saturday  afternoon  was  spent  in  the  investigation  of  this 
second  quarry. 

Like  the  first,  it  had  been  opened  along  the  slope  of  a 
gentle  hill,  and  the  excavations  presented  to  our  view  a 
long  line  of  caverns  similar  to  those  we  had  seen  before. 
But  the  quarry  was  disused,  and  appeared  to  have  been  so 
for  many  years.  The  roof  had  fallen  down  in  many  places, 
the  mouths  of  the  caves  had  become  well-nigh  choked  up 
with  rubbish  and  tangled  gorse,  and  the  heaps  of  debris,  so 
fresh  and  clean  in  our  own  quarry,  were  here  overgrown 
with  gray  lichens  and  green  moss,  damp  and  old.  The 
kilns  had  not  been  fired  for  many  a  day.  The  cracks  and 
rents  that  had  fissured  their  walls,  from  the  fierce  heat  that 


I]  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  19 

once  blazed  within,  were  yawning  hideously,  as  if  a  strong 
gale  would  hurl  them  with  a  crash  into  the  half-buried  cavern 
below.  Only  one  human  habitation  was  near,  a  small  moss- 
grown  cottage,  where  lived  a  little  old  woman,  her  skin 
brown  and  shrivelled  as  parchment,  who  was  busy  hanging 
out  linen  on  a  neighbouring  hedge.  Altogether,  therefore, 
this  second  quarry  had  a  very  grave -like,  antique  look, 
and  we  entered  it  with  a  kind  of  boyish  wonder  whether  so 
different  a  scene  would  yield  us  the  same  treasures  as  we 
had  found  so  abundantly  only  two  miles  off. 

It  required  but  a  cursory  glance  to  show  us  that  the 
two  limestones  were  not  the  same.  They  differed  in 
colour  and  texture,  but  still  more  in  their  fossil  contents. 
We  searched  long  but  unsuccessfully  for  traces  of  the 
plants,  or  cyprids,  or  fish,  so  common  at  our  first  quarry. 
In  their  stead  we  hammered  out  an  abundant  series  of  quite 
different  fossils,  all  quite  new  to  us.  Of  course,  in  our 
attempts  to  discover  the  nature  and  habitats  of  these 
objects,  we  wandered  quite  as  far  from  the  truth  as  we  had 
done  before.  After  much  blundering  we  eventually  ascer- 
tained that  the  new  treasures  included  corals,  stone- lilies, 
and  shells — all  organisms  of  the  sea-floor.  But  our  most 
instructive  collection  of  these  relics  of  marine  life  were 
obtained  from  a  much  larger  quarry  some  twelve  miles 
away.  This  more  distant  locality  was  calculated  to  im- 
press powerfully  a  much  more  matured  imagination  than 
that  of  boyhood.  I  have  often  since  visited  it,  and  always 
with  fresh  interest.  It  has  quiet,  tree-shaded  nooks,  where, 
the  din  of  the  workmen  being  hushed  by  distance,  one  may 
sit  alone  and  undisturbed  for  hours,  gathering  up  from  the 
grass-grown  mounds  delicate  lamp-shells  and  sea-mats, 
crinoids,  cup-corals,  and  many  other  denizens  of  the  palaeo- 
zoic ocean.  A  mass  of  rock,  from  which  the  rest  has  been 


20  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [i 

quarried  away,  stands  in  a  secluded  coppice,  overlooking 
the  sea,  as  if  to  show  how  thick  the  seam  was  before  the 
quarrymen  began  to  remove  it.  This  mass  has  been  ex- 
posed to  the  weather  for  many  a  long  year.  Its  steep  sides 
are  crowded  with  stone-lilies,  corals,  and  shells,  which  stand 
out  in  relief  like  an  arabesque  fretwork.  The  marks  of  the 
quarrymen's  tools  have  passed  away,  and  a  gray  hue  of  age 
has  spread  over  the  rock,  aided  by  patches  of  lichen  and 
moss,  or  by  tufts  of  fern,  that  here  and  there  have  found  a 
nest1  ing- place.  For  here,  as  always,  where  man  has  scarped 
and  wounded  the  surface  of  the  globe  on  which  he  dwells, 

"  Nature,  softening  and  concealing, 
Is  busy  with  a  hand  of  healing. " 

From  this  point,  between  the  overhanging  branches,  our 
schoolboy  band  could  watch  the  lights  and  shadows  flitting 
athwart  the  distant  hills,  the  breeze  sweeping  the  neighbour- 
ing sea  into  fitful  sheets  of  darker  blue,  and  the  sails  for 
ever  passing  to  and  fro.  And  then,  turning  round,  there 
rose  behind-  us  this  strange  wall  of  rock — the  bottom  of  an 
older  sea,  with  its  dead  organisms  piled  by  thousands  over 
each  other.  I  can  never  forget  the  impression  made  on 
my  boyish  mind  by  the  realisation  of  this  tremendous  con- 
trast in  scenery  and  life,  and  of  the  vast  gulf  of  time  between 
the  living  world  and  the  dead.  It  made  a  kind  of  epoch 
in  one's  life.  My  first  afternoon  in  this  old  lime-quarry  was 
of  more  service  at  this  time  than  any  number  of  books  or 
lectures. 

The  recollection  of  these  early  days  has  often  since 
impressed  me  with  a  sense  of  the  enormous  advantage 
which  a  boy  or  girl  may  derive  from  any  pursuit  that  stimu- 
lates the  imagination.  -  My  boyish  geology  was  absurdly, 
grotesquely  erroneous.  I  should  have  failed  ignominiously 
at  an  examination  which  would  be  thought  easy  enough  at 


i]  MY  FIRST  GEOLOGICAL  EXCURSION.  21 

a  modern  elementary  science  class.  But  I  had  gained  for 
myself  what  these  science  classes  so  seldom  infuse  into  the 
pupils — an  enthusiastic  love  of  the  subject,  and  a  deter- 
mination to  get  somehow  at  the  living  truth  of  which  the 
rocks  are  the  records.  I  had  learnt  to  treat  fossils  not  as 
mere  dead  mineral  matter,  or  as  mere  curiosities  valuable 
in  proportion  to  their  rarity  or  perfection  or  preservation, 
but  as  enduring  records  of  former  life ;  not  as  species  to 
fill  a  place  in  a  zoological  system,  or  specimens  to  take  up 
so  much  room  in  a  museum,  but  as  the  remains  of  once 
living  organisms,  which  formed  part  of  a  creation  as  real  as 
that  in  which  we  ourselves  pass  our  existence.  They  were 
witnesses  of  early  ages  in  our  planet's  history,  and  were 
ready  to  tell  their  tale  if  one  could  only  learn  how  to  read 
it  from  them.  Few  occupations  possess  greater  power  of 
fascination  than  to  marshal  all  these  witnesses,  and  elicit 
from  them  the  evidence  which  allows  us  to  restore  one 
after  another  the  successive  conditions  through  which  the 
solid  land  has  passed.  To  realise  how  this  is  done,  and 
to  take  part  in  the  doing  of  it,  is  for  a  boy  a  lifelong 
advantage.  He  may  never  become  a  geologist  in  any 
sense,  but  he  gains  such  an  enlarged  view  of  nature,  and 
such  a  vivid  conception  of  the  long  evolution  through 
which  the  present  condition  of  things  has  been  reached,  as 
can  be  mastered  in  no  other  way.  A  single  excursion 
under  sympathetic  and  intelligent  guidance  to  an  instruct- 
ive quarry,  river  ravine,  or  sea-shore,  is  worth  many  books 
and  a  long  course  of  systematic  lectures. 


22  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [n 


II. 

"THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY."1 

THE  tidal  wave  of  travellers,  which,  thanks  to  railroads 
and  steamboats,  pours  northward  over  the  country  every 
summer,  even  as  far  as  John  o'  Groat's,  has  as  yet  hardly 
risen  much  beyond  that  utmost  shore.  The  tourist  stops 
short  at  the  Pentland  Firth ;  indeed,  when  he  reaches  its 
bare  treeless  coast,  and  finds  that  there  is  really  no  tradi- 
tional house  at  John  o'  Groat's  (though  a  good  inn,  with 
careful  host  and  kindly  hostess,  should  tempt  him  to  rest 
there  a  while),  he  is  in  a  hurry  to  get  back  by  daylight  to 
the  busy  hum  of  men  in  the  hyperborean  city  of  Wick 
or  of  Thurso,  and  as  eager  to  flit  southwards  again  next 
morning.  He  makes  a  fatal  mistake,  however;  for  he 
misses  the  very  points  which  it  would  have  been  worth  his 
while  to  make  the  whole  of  his  long  journey  to  see.  Let 
him,  for  instance,  take  up  his  quarters  for  a  day  or  two  by 
the  side  of  the  Pentland  Firth,  and  spend  his  hours  watch- 
ing from  one  of  its  grim  cliffs  the  race  of  its  tideway.  No- 
where else  round  the  British  Islands  can  he  look  down  on 
such  a  sea.  It  seems  to  rush  and  roar  past  him  like  a 
vast  river,  but  with  a  flow  some  three  times  swifter  than 
our  most  rapid  rivers.  Such  a  broad  breast  of  rolling 
eddying  foaming  water !  Even  when  there  is  no  wind,  the 
1  Geological  Magazine,  1878. 


n]  "THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY."  23 

tide  ebbs  and  flows  in  this  way,  pouring  now  eastwards  now 
westwards,  as  the  tidal  wave  rises  and  falls.  But  if  he 
should  be  lucky  enough  to  come  in  for  a  gale  of  wind  (arid 
they  are  not  unknown  there  in  summer,  as  he  will  probably 
learn),  let  him  by  no  means  fail  to  take  up  his  station  on 
Duncansbay  Head,  or  at  the  Point  of  Mey.  'The  shelter 
of  a  flagstone  "  dyke  "  and  a  waterproof  will  save  him  from 
any  ulterior  consequences  of  the  exposure,  or  should  he 
have  some  misgivings  on  this  point,  he  will  find,  when  he 
gets  back  to  the  shelter  of  the  inn  at  John  o'  Groat's,  that 
mine  host  has  sundry  specifics  of  well-tried  potency,  at  the 
very  sight  and  taste  of  which  rheums,  catarrhs,  and  the  rest 
of  that  tribe  of  ailments  at  once  decamp.  Ensconced  in 
his  "  neuk,"  he  can  quietly  try  to  fix  in  his  mind  a  picture 
of  what  is  before  him.  He  will  choose  if  he  can  a  time 
when  the  tide  is  coming  up  against  the  wind.  The  watei 
no  longer  looks  like  the  eddying  current  of  a  mighty  river. 
It  rather  resembles  the  surging  of  rocky  rapids.  Its  surface 
is  one  vast  sheet  of  foam  and  green  yeasty  waves.  Every 
now  and  then  a  huge  billow  rears  itself  impatiently  above 
the  rest,  tossing  its  sheets  of  spray  in  the  face  of  the  wind, 
which  scatters  them  back  into  the  boiling  flood.  Here 
and  there,  owing  to  the  configuration  of  the  bottom,  this 
turmoil  waxes  so  furious  that  a  constant  dance  of  towering 
breakers  is  kept  up.  Such  are  the  terrible  "  Roost  of 
Duncansbay,"  and  the  broken  water  grimly  termed  the 
"  Merry  Men  of  Mey."  With  a  great  gale  from  the  north- 
east, or  south-east,  the  shelter  even  of  the  stone  wall  on 
Duncansbay  Head  would  be  of  little  avail.  For  solid 
sheets  of  water  rush  up  the  face  of  the  cliffs  for  more  than 
a  hundred  feet,  and  pour  over  the  top  in  such  volume  that 
it  is  said  they  have  actually  been  intercepted  on  the  land- 
ward side  by  a  dam  across  a  little  valley,  and  have  been 


24  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [n 

used  to  turn  a  mill.  Should  the  meditative  tourist  be 
overtaken  by  such  a  gale  he  will  find  shelter  in  the  quaint 
cottage  of  the  kind-hearted  but  hard-headed  John  Gibson, 
who,  perched  like  a  sea-eagle  at  the  head  of  a  tremendous 
chasm  in  the  cliffs,  can  spin  many  a  yarn  about  the  tempests 
of  the  north. 

No  one  can  see  such  scenes  without  realising,  as  he 
probably  has  never  done  before,  the  restless  energy  of 
nature.  His  eyes  are  opened.  He  feels  how  wind  and 
rain,  wave  and  tide,  are  leagued  together,  as  it  were,  in 
spite  of  their  apparent  antagonism,  to  batter  down  the 
shores.  Everywhere  he  witnesses  proofs  of  their  prowess. 
Tall  gaunt  stacks  rise  out  of  the  waves  in  front  of  the  cliffs 
of  which  they  once  formed  a  part.  Yawning  rents  run 
through  them  from  summit  to  base ;  their  sides  are  frayed 
into  cusp  and  pinnacle  that  seem  ready  to  topple  over  when 
the  next  storm  assails  them ;  their  surf-beaten  basements 
are  pierced  with  caverns  and  tunnels  into  which  the  surge 
is  for  ever  booming.  On  the  solid  cliffs  behind,  the  same 
tale  of  warfare  is  inscribed.  But  the  traveller  who  has 
seen  so  much  will  perforce  desire  to  see  more.  From  his 
perch  on  the  southern  side  of  the  foaming  Pentland  Firth 
he  looks  across  to  the  distant  hills  of  Hoy — the  only  hills, 
indeed,  which  are  visible  from  the  monotonous  moorlands  of 
northern  Caithness,  save  when  from  some  higher  eminence 
one  catches  the  blue  outline  of  Morven  on  the  southern 
sky-line.  The  Orkney  Islands  are  otherwise  as  tame  and 
as  flat  as  Caithness.  But  in  Hoy  they  certainly  make 
amends  for  their  generally  featureless  surface.  Yet  even 
there  it  is  not  the  interior,  hilly  though  it  be,  but  the 
western  coast-cliffs,'  which  redeem  the  whole  of  the  far 
north  of  Scotland  from  the  charge  of  failure  in  picturesque 
and  impressive  scenery.  One  looks  across  the  Pentland 


li]  "THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY."  25 

Firth  and  marks  how  the  flat  islands  of  the  Orkney  group 
rise  from  its  northern  side  as  a  long  low  line,  until  west- 
wards they  mount  into  the  rounded  heights  of  Hoy,  and 
how  these  again  plunge  in  a  range  of  precipices  into  the 
Atlantic.  Yellow  and  red  in  hue,  these  marvellous  cliffs 
gleam  across  the  water  as  if  the  sunlight  always  bathed 
them.  They  brighten  a  gray  day,  and  gray  days  are  only 
too  common  in  the  northern  summer ;  on  a  sunny  fore- 
noon, or  still  better  on  a  clear  evening,  when  the  sun  is 
sinking  beneath  the  western  waters,  they  glow  and  burn, 
yet  behind  such  a  dreamy  sea-born  haze,  that  the  onlooker 
can  hardly  believe  himself  to  be  in  the  far  north,  but  re- 
calls perhaps  memories  of  Capri  and  Sorrento,  and  the 
blue  Mediterranean.  Looking  at  them  from  the  mainland, 
we  are  soon  struck  by  one  feature  at  their  western  end. 
A  strange  square  tower-like  projection  rises  behind  the  last 
and  lowest  spur  of  cliff  which  descends  into  the  sea.  We 
may  walk  mile  after  mile  along  the  Caithness  shore,  and 
still  that  mysterious  mass  keeps  its  place.  As  we  move 
westwards,  however,  the  higher  cliffs  behind  open  out,  and 
we  can  see  on  a  clear  day  with  the  naked  eye  that  the 
mass  is  a  huge  column  of  rock  rising  in  advance  of  the 
cliff.  It  is  the  "Old  Man  of  Hoy" — a  notable  landmark, 
well  deserving  its  fame. 

Let  no  tourist  who  has  journeyed  as  far  as  Thurso  hesi- 
tate to  cross  the  Firth  and  reach  Strom  ness  in  Orkney. 
He  will  find  a  steamer  ready  to  carry  him  thither  in  a  few 
hours,  and  in  the  voyage  will  pass  close  under  the  grandest 
cliff  in  the  British  Islands.  Above  all,  he  will  make  the 
personal  acquaintance  of  the  Old  Man,  or  at  least  will  be 
brought  so  near  as  to  conceive  a  very  profound  respect  for 
him.  The  view  given  in  Fig.  i  was  sketched  from  the 
vessel  in  this  passage,  and  though  by  no  means  taken  from 


Fig.  i._«fHE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY." 
(Sketched  from  the  sea.) 


n]  "  THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY."  27 

the  most  picturesque  point  of  view,  may  serve  to  convey 
some  notion  of  the  form,  size,  and  structure  of  this  the 
most  remarkable  feature  in  Orkney  scenery.  The  Old 
Man  is  a  column  of  yellow  and  red  sandstone  more  than 
600  feet  high.  It  stands  well  in  front  of  the  cliff,  with 
which,  however,  it  is  still  connected  by  a  low  ridge  strewn 
with  blocks.  Doubtless  one  main  cause  of  its  impressive- 
ness  lies  in  the  fact  that  its  summit  is  considerably  higher 
than  the  cliff  behind  it.  Thus  it  stands  out  against  the  sky 
even  when  seen  from  a  distance.  Its  base  is  washed  on 
three  sides  by  the  waves  which  rise  and  fall  over  a  low 
reef  running  out  from  underneath  the  base  of  the  columa 
Formerly  a  huge  buttress,  like  the  Giant's  Leg  of  Bressay 
in  Shetland,  used  to  project  into  the  sea.  But  it  has  been 
swept  away,  and  for  many  years  the  Old  Man,  with  the 
support  of  but  one  leg,  has  had  to  keep  his  watch  and  wage 
his  unequal  battle  with  the  elements. 

Unless  the  ground-swell  be  too  heavy,  the  steamboat 
usually  keeps  close  enough  to  the  base  of  the  great  preci- 
pices to  allow  the  masonry  of  this  wonderful  obelisk  to  be 
distinctly  seen.  Like  the  cliff  behind,  it  is  built  up  of  suc- 
cessive bars  of  sandstone  forming  portions  of  horizontal  or 
very  gently  inclined  strata.  Its  base,  however,  rests  on  a 
pedestal  of  different  materials,  consisting  of  two  well-defined 
bands,  both  of  which  can  be  traced  stretching  landwards 
and  passing  under  the  base  of  the  cliff.  The  lower  of  these 
two  bands  is  plainly  marked  by  lines  of  parallel  stratifica- 
tion inclined  at  a  considerably  higher  angle  than  the  dip 
of  the  sandstones,  and  evidently  composed  of  something 
quite  different  from  them.  Viewed  thus  from  the  sea  in  a 
brief  and  passing  way,  the  whole  structure  can  be  recog- 
nised as  composed  of  three  distinct  portions.  The  main 
pillar,  of  pale  red  and  yellow  sandstone,  rests  unconform- 


28  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [n 

ably  upon  a  platform  composed  of  two  layers,  of  which  the 
uppermost  is  a  dark  band  of  seemingly  structureless  rock, 
while  the  lower  is  formed  of  dark  slate-coloured  tilted  strata. 
It  is  only  when  one  lands  on  the  island  of  Hoy,  and 
examines  the  cliffs  in  detail,  that  the  true  nature  and 
history  of  the  three  bars  of  the  Old  Man  can  be  made  out. 
The  yellow  and  red  sandstones  of  the  column  and  the  cliff 
behind  it  are  then  found  to  present  the  ordinary  characters 
of  the  Upper  Old  Red  Sandstone,  to  which  they  are  with 
probability  referred,  though  as  yet  they  have  yielded  no 
fossils.  Irregularly  alternating  in  thick  and  thinner  beds, 
they  are  rent  by  innumerable  perpendicular  joints.  By 
means  of  these  divisional  lines,  slice  after  slice  falls  away 
from  the  face  of  the  cliffs,  which  thus  maintain  their  pre- 
cipitous front  towards  the  Atlantic.  Except  in  regard  to 
their  scenic  features,  these  sandstones,  however,  are  less 
full  of  interest  than  the  two  bars  comprising  the  Old  Man's 
pedestal.  The  upper  bar  consists  of  a  band  of  dark 
amygdaloidal  lava  with  a  slaggy  surface.  The  same  rock 
appears  elsewhere,  rising  out  from  beneath  the  sandstones 
of  the  precipices,  particularly  at  the  north-western  headland, 
where  it  consists  of  three  or  more  distinct  bands  with  well- 
stratified  volcanic  tuffs.  To  the  north-east  of  that  head- 
land, on  a  tract  of  lower  ground  intervening  between  the 
base  of  the  hills  and  the  edge  of  the  sea,  several  well- 
marked  volcanic  "  necks "  or  pipes  occur,  representing 
some  of  the  vents  from  which  the  streams  of  lava  and 
showers  of  ash  were  poured.  The  complete  interstratifica- 
tion  of  the  beds  of  erupted  material  with  the  lower  portion 
of  the  sandstones  proves  that  the  volcanic  action  showed 
itself  at  the  beginning  of  the  deposition  of  the  Upper  Old 
Red  Sandstone  in  this  region.  Another  little  vent  may 
be  observed  on  the  Caithness  coast,  near  John  o'  Groat's 


II]  "THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY."  29 

House.  Perhaps  some  may  still  remain  to  be  noticed 
among  the  central  and  northern  members  of  the  Orkney 
Islands.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  singular  and  local  out- 
burst of  volcanic  energy  during  Upper  Old  Red  Sandstone 
times — the  only  one  yet  discovered  to  the  north  of.-the  High- 
lands. The  uppermost  bar,  then,  of  the  pedestal  on  which 
the  Old  Man  has  taken  his  stand  is  a  massive  sheet  of  lava. 
The  lower  bar  belongs  to  a  very  different  period,  and 
has  a  totally  dissimilar  history.  Its  component  strata  have 
been  upturned  and  worn  away  before  the  eruption  of  the 
lava,  which  had  rolled  over  their  broken  and  bared  edges. 
On  looking  more  closely  into  these  strata,  which,  even  seen 
from  the  sea,  present  such  a  contrast  in  disposition  to  the 
lava  and  overlying  sandstones,  we  find  that  they  consist  of 
dark  thin-bedded  sandstones,  shales,  and  impure  limestones. 
In  short,  they  are  a  portion  of  the  great  series  of  deposits 
known  as  the  Caithness  flagstones  of  the  Lower  Old  Red 
Sandstone.  From  many  of  their  exposed  surfaces  shining 
jet-black  scales,  bones,  and  teeth  of  the  characteristic  fishes 
of  these  flagstones  project.  What  a  suggestive  picture  of 
the  imperfection  of  the  geological  record  is  presented  to  us 
by  some  of  these  weather-beaten  or  surf-worn  sheets  of  rock  r 
We  pick  up  from  their  crannies  broken  whelks,  nullipores, 
and  corallines,  tossed  up  by  the  last  storm  from  the  zones 
of  life  now  tenanting  the  sea  below  us.  The  limpet  and 
sea-anemone,  the  whelk  and  barnacle,  are  clinging  to  the 
hardened  sand  over  which,  while  it  was  still  soft,  the 
Osteolepis  and  Coccostcus  and  their  bone  -  cased  brethren 
disported  in  the  ancient  northern  lake  of  Lower  Old  Red 
Sandstone  times.  Nay,  we  may  now  and  then  watch  a 
living  mollusc  creeping  over  the  cuirass  of  a  palaeozoic  fish. 
Yet  who  can  realise  the  lapse  of  time  which  here  separates 
the  living  from  the  dead  ? 


30  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [11 

Below  and  beyond  the  horizon  of  the  flagstones  no 
evidence  among  the  Hoy  cliffs  remains  to  lead  us.  But  in 
the  neighbouring  isles  of  Pomona  and  Gremsa,  bosses  of 
crystalline  rocks  —  granite,  gneiss,  and  schists  —  project 
from  under  the  flagstones,  and  are  wrapped  round  with 
conglomerates,  doubtless  representing  islets  with  the  shore- 
gravel  heaped  up  around  them  when  they  rose  out  of  the 
Old  Red  Sandstone  lake. 

So  much  for  the  materials  out  of  which  the  Old  Man 
has  been  carved.  And  now  a  few  words  as  to  the  process 
of  carving.  If  the  traveller  who  has  reached  Stromness 
finds  himself  with  even  one  spare  day  at  his  disposal,  he 
cannot  employ  it  to  more  conspicuous  advantage  than  by 
taking  a  boat  with  a  couple  of  stalwart  Norse  like  Orcadian 
boatmen,  crossing  the  strait  to  Hoy,  and  ascending  that 
island  by  the  Cam  and  the  north-western  headland,  with  its 
rock-girt  cony  and  glacier-moraines,  until  he  finds  himself 
at  the  summit  of  the  great  western  precipice,  with  the 
surface  of  the  surging  Atlantic  some  1300  feet  below  him. 
The  scene  tells  its  own  tale  of  ceaseless  waste,  and  needs 
no  lecture  or  text-book  for  its  comprehension.  Pinnacles 
and  turrets  of  richly-tinted  yellow  and  red  sandstone  roughen 
the  upper  edge  of  the  cliff,  often  fretted  into  the  strangest 
shapes,  and  worn  into  such  perilous  narrowness  of  base 
that  they  seemed  doomed  to  go  headlong  down  into  the 
gulf  below  when  the  next  tempest  sweeps  across  from  the 
west.  Buttresses,  sorely  rifted  and  honey- combed,  lean 
against  the  main  cliff  as  if  to  prop  it  up  :  but  separated 
from  it  by  the  yawning  fissures  which  will  surely  widen 
until  they  wedge  off  the  projecting  masses,  and  strip  huge 
slices  from  the  face  o,f  the  cliff.  One  sees,  as  it  were,  every 
step  in  the  progress  of  degradation.  It  is  by  this  prolonged 
splitting  and  slicing  and  fretting  that  the  precipice  has 


II]  "THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY."  31 

been  made  to  recede,  and  has  acquired  its  shattered  but 
picturesque  contours.  The  Old  Man  is  thus  a  monument 
of  the  retreat  and  destruction  of  the  cliffs  of  which  it  once 
formed  a  part.  To  what  accidental  circumstance  it  may 
have  owed  its  isolation  cannot  be  affirmed  with  certainty. 
But  it  shares  in  the  prevalent  decay.  Every  year  must 
insensibly  tell  upon  its  features. 

On  the  calmest  day  some  motion  of  air  always  plays 
about  the  giddy  crest  of  these  precipices,  and  a  surge  with 
creaming  lines  of  white  foam  sweeps  around  their  base. 
But  when  a  westerly  gale  sets  in,  the  scene  is  said  to  be 
wholly  indescribable.  The  cliffs  are  then  enveloped  in 
driving  spray  torn  from  the  solid  sheets  of  water  which 
rush  up  the  walls  of  rock  for  a  hundred  feet  or  more,  and 
roll  back  in  thousands  of  tumultuous  waterfalls.  The  force 
of  the  wind  is  such  as  actually  to  loosen  the  weathered  parts 
of  the  rock  and  dislodge  them.  Thus  along  the  mossy 
surface  of  the  slope,  which  ascends  inland  from  the  edge 
of  the  cliff,  large  flat  pieces  of  naked  stone  may  be  picked 
up  by  scores  lying  on  the  heather  and  coarse  grass,  whither 
they  have  been  whirled  up  from  the  shattered  crags  by 
successive  gusts  of  the  storms. 

The  destruction  of  this  coast-line  has  not  yet,  however, 
wholly  effaced  traces  of  other  powers  of  waste  which  have 
long  since  passed  away.  On  the  very  edge  of  the  cliff,  to 
the  south-east  of  the  Old  Man,  some  well-preserved  striations 
on  the  sandstone  point  to  the  movement  of  the  ice-sheet 
of  the  glacial  period  across  even  the  hilly  island  of  Hoy  in 
a  N.W.  and  S.E.  direction.  Again,  in  the  green  corry  at 
the  Cam  of  Hoy,  some  beautifully  perfect  little  moraines 
remain  to  show  that  after  the  great  land-ice  had  subsided 
the  snow-fall  in  these  northern  regions  continued  heavy 
enough  to  nourish  in  so  small  an  island  as  Hoy  groups  of 


32  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [n 

valley  glaciers.  Though  the  general  form  of  the  hills  and 
valleys  remains  now  much  as  it  was  when  the  last  lingering 
glacier  melted  away,  there  have  been  stupendous  changes 
since  then  in  the  shaping  of  the  precipices.  At  that  time 
the  Old  Man  still  formed  a  portion  of  the  solid  cliff.  It 
is  in  the  ensuing  interval  that  this  impressive  landmark 
has  been  left  during  the  destruction  of  the  surrounding 
masses.  Long  may  he  be  able  to  stand  his  ground  !  When 
his  last  hour  comes,  as  come  it  must,  may  some  reverential 
geologist,  duly  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  might  of 
denudation  in  the  sculpture  of  the  land,  be  there  to  pay 
the  last  honours  to  his  dust ! 

In  the  scenery  of  the  British  Islands  no  geological 
formation  plays  a  more  varied  part  than  the  Old  Red  Sand- 
stone, and  nowhere  can  its  characteristic  landscapes  be 
more  instructively  seen  than  in  these  far  northern  districts 
of  Scotland.  In  Hoy,  for  example,  the  upper  sandstones 
rise  into  a  group  of  smooth  dome-shaped  hills,  which,  from 
all  sides,  stand  out  in  striking  contrast  to  every  other  form 
of  ground  within  sight.  In  Caithness  the  lower  sandstones 
and  conglomerates  have  concentrated  all  their  efforts  on 
the  production  of  the  one  solitary  mountain  of  that  county 
— Morven — a  graceful  cone,  which  so  towers  above  the 
moors  on  the  one  side  and  the  sea  on  the  other  as  to  form 
one  of  the  most  notable  landmarks  in  the  north  of  Scotland. 
But  on  the  coast-line,  where  the  rocks  assert  most  strongly 
their  individuality  of  character,  swept  bare  of  all  protecting 
soil  by  the  restless  and  resistless  surge,  their  minutest  points 
of  structure  are  so  exposed  as  to  affect  even  the  most  delicate 
lineaments  of  the  cliffs.  The  two  fundamental  structures, 
bedding  and  jointing,  are  developed  with  a  trenchant 
emphasis  which  gives  a  dominant  character  to  the  scenery 
of  the  shores  of  Caithness  and  Orkney.  Walls  of  flagstone, 


II] 


"THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY.' 


33 


several  hundred  feet  high,  are  seen  from  base  to  summit 
to  consist  of  thin  parallel  bands  of  horizontal  or  gently- 
inclined  strata.  These  beds,  though  everywhere  singularly 
durable,  vary  slightly  in  their  powers  of  resistance  to  the 
elements.  The  less  tenacious  layers  are  eaten  away,  while 
the  harder  project  beyond  them.  Hence  the  precipices 


Fig.  2. — View  of  the  Flagstone  Cliffs  of  Holburn  Head,  Caithness, 
showing  how  their  vertical  face  is  produced  by  the  wedging  off  of 
successive  slices  of  rock  along  lines  of  joint. 

are  fretted  into  alternate  lines  of  cornice  and  frieze,  which 
can  be  followed  by  the  eye  from  buttress  to  buttress  along 
the  front  of  these  grim  cliffs. 

That  the  flagstone  must,  however,  be  endowed  on  the 
whole  with  exceptional  durability  is  shown  by  the  striking 
verticality  which  the  precipices  maintain.  Their  perpendi- 


34 


GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES. 


[n 


cular  walls  are  defined  by  the  system  of  joints  which  always 
traverse  the  rock  vertically  or  at  high  angles.  Slice  after 
slice  is  wedged  off  by  means  of  these  joints,  and  in  this 
way  the  perpendicular  front  of  the  cliffs  is  maintained.  In 
many  places  the  observer  may  watch  the  process  of  sculp- 
ture in  successive  stages  of  progress.  He  will  notice  that, 


Fig.  3.  — View  of  Flagstone  Cliffs,  Brough  of  Birsay,  Orkney,  showing 
how  the  overhanging  form  of  a  precipice  may  be  determined  by 
the  inclination  of  rock -joints. 

as  a  rule,  the  dismemberment  begins  at  the  top  of  the  cliff, 
where  the  agents  are  not  the  breakers  of  the  ocean,  but 
rain,  frost,  and  the  other  powers  of  the  air.  A  joint  may 
be  observed  to  gape  a  little  at  the  summit  of  the  precipice, 
where  nature's  wedge  has  begun  to  be  driven  home.  In 
another  case  the  wedge  has  gone  down  to  the  very  base  of 


II]  "THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY."  35 

the  cliff.  The  disjointed  buttress  is  severed  from  the  main 
mass  by  a  yawning  rent,  which  will  be  slowly  widened 
above,  while  the  breakers  breach  it  below,  until  the  whole 
will  fall  into  the  surf,  and  expose  the  naked  cliff  behind  to 
a  repetition  of  the  same  waste. 

If  the  joints  are  vertical  the  resulting  face  of  precipice 
will  be  vertical  also  (Fig.  2) ;  and  this  fact,  combined  with 
the  singular  durability  of  the  flagstone,  accounts  for  the 
sheer  walls  by  which  so  much  of  Caithness  and  Orkney  is 
girdled  round.  Any  deviation  from  verticality  in  the  joints 
will  of  course  produce  a  corresponding  departure  in  the 
resulting  cliff.  Hence  where,  as  often  happens  in  these 
regions,  the  joints  are  slightly  inclined  landwards,  the  pre- 
cipices are  actually  made  to  overhang.  In  such  cases  it  is 
easy  to  show  that  the  beetling  walls  are  not  really  eaten 
away  faster  by  the  waves  below  than  by  the  subaerial  agents 
above  (Fig.  3). 

Another  singular  feature  of  these  northern  coasts  is  the 
number  of  gios,  or  narrow  steep-walled  gullies,  or  inlets,  by 
which  the  sea-cliffs  are  indented.  Here  again  we  trace  the 
dominant  influence  of  the  joints.  In  fact,  the  waste  of 
these  shores  may  be  compared  to  a  gigantic  process  of 
quarrying,  wherein  the  rains,  snows,  and  frosts  above,  the 
springs  and  trickling  water  within,  and  the  breakers  below, 
are  the  unwearying  workmen.  Whether  the  sea-wall  is 
demolished  uniformly,  or  portions  of  it  are  allowed  to 
remain  as  projecting  buttresses,  or  isolated  into  massive 
quadrangular  sea-stacks,  or  cut  into  deep  narrow  recesses, 
nature  works  along  the  joints  as  quarry  men  would  do,  and 
thus  the  massive  arch/Vectural  character  of  these  cliffs  is  pre- 
served. At  the  same  time  the  slow  progress  of  atmospheric 
waste  sculptures  the  bare  wall  of  rock  into  its  character- 
istically striped  and  fretted  surface,  and  brings  out  the 


36  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [11 

peculiar  weather-tint  of  each  bed,  from  deepest  indigo  to 
palest  emerald-green.  On  some  of  the  ledges  a  scanty 
vegetation  finds  root,  and  where  the  cliffs  rise  most  in- 
accessibly from  the  waves  each  cornice  along  their  front  is 
the  nestling-place  of  innumerable  sea-birds,  whose  shrill 
screams  blend  with  the  sough  of  the  wind  and  the  mono- 
tonous cadence  of  the  surge  into  a  wild  northern  music 
that  wakens  many  a  chord  in  the  heart  of  one  to  whom  the 
elemental  sounds  of  nature  are  ever  dear.  No  sooner  do 
we  step  off  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  than  these  singularly 
characteristic  and  persistent  features  disappear.  The  con- 
trast presented  by  some  of  the  other  rocks  of  the  North 
must  strike  every  observer,  even  one  to  whom  the  very 
name  of  geology  is  unknown.  The  traveller  who  journeys 
westward  into  Sutherlandshire  encounters  many  varieties  of 
coast  scenery,  but  he  leaves  behind  him  the  peculiar  cliffs 
of  the  Caithness  flagstones.  At  one  point  he  is  confronted 
with  gleaming  precipices  and  steep  acclivities  of  white 
glistening  qtiartzite,  at  another  he  beholds  vast  sea-walls  of 
a  sombre  dull  red  sandstone,  even  more  colossal  than  those 
cf  Caithness,  but  wanting  in  those  charms  of  light  and 
shade,  wealth  of  colour,  and  multiplicity  of  detail  in  form, 
which  give  the  flagstone  scenery  so  defined  a  character. 
Perhaps  the  greatest  contrast  is  to  be  seen  among  the 
gneiss  precipices  of  Cape  Wrath.  That  north-western  head- 
land of  Scotland  is  composed  of  the  oldest  rock  in  Britain, 
and  one  that  from  its  tough,  massive,  gnarled  aspect  is  well 
worthy  of  its  position  as  the  foundation  on  which  the 
geological  structure  of  these  islands  has  been  erected. 
Rising  into  a  range  of  singularly  scarped  and  rugged  cliffs, 
it  bears  the  full  brunt  of  every  storm  that  sweeps  across  the 
open  Atlantic.  Every  weak  part  of  its  framework  is  dis- 
covered by  the  powerful  battery  of  breakers,  and  is  hollowecj 


S8  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [n 

into  tunnel,  cave,  or  gully,  while  the  harder  parts  tower  up 
into  fantastic  columns  or  buttresses.  It  possesses  no  sym- 
metry of  structure  like  that  of  bedding  and  jointing  among 
the  flagstones.  Huge  tortuous  veins  of  a  coarse  kind  of 
granite  run  up  the  face  of  the  cliffs,  reminding  one  of  the 
prominent  sinews  of  some  antique  statue  (Fig.  4).  The 
main  mass  of  the  rock  through  which  these  veins  interlace 
is  of  a  dull  dusky  green  or  livid  gray,  while  the  veins  them- 


Fig.  5. — View  of  part  of  the  Cliffs  near  St.  Abb's  Head,  showing 
curved  Silurian  strata. 

selves  stand  out  in  pale  flesh  colour,  so  that  even  from  a 
distance  of  several  miles  this  singular  feature  of  the  cliffs 
may  be  distinctly  seen. 

As  still  another  illustration  of  the  intimate  dependence 
of  our  rocky  coast  scenery  upon  geological  structure,  refer- 
ence may  be  made  to  the  range  of  cliffs  on  the  south-eastern 
margin  of  Scotland  on  either  side  of  St.  Abb's  Head.  Here 
the  bedding  of  the  rocks  is  almost  as  plainly  marked  as 


ii]  "THE  OLD  MAN  OF  HOY."  39 

among  the  flagstones  of  Caithness.  But  the  strata,  instead 
of  lying  in  horizontal  or  gently-inclined  undisturbed  succes- 
sion, have  been  thrown  into  huge  folds  which  sweep  from 
summit  to  base  of  precipices  sometimes  500  feet  high  (Fig. 
5).  The  lines  of  stratification  consequently  curve  to  and 
fro  among  the  cliffs,  carrying  with  them  their  successive 
bars  of  massive  graywacke  or  fissile  shale.  An  intricate 
system  of  minor  cross-joints  causes  these  bands  of  rock  to 
split  up  into  irregular  blocks,  while  by  a  set  of  large  but  some- 
what ill -defined  joints  the  cliffs  are  cleft  into  vast  irregular 
bastions  and  recesses.  On  one  of  these  projecting  crags 
the  ruined  fortalice  of  Fast  Castle — the  prototype  of  Scott's 
Castle  of  Ravenswood — is  perched.  Here  and  there  at  the 
base  of  the  cliffs  are  sheltered  caves,  once  favourite  haunts 
of  smugglers,  now  hardly  ever  disturbed  by  human  voices. 
Gaunt  sea -stacks,  once  part  of  the  main  cliff,  but  now 
isolated  amid  the  surf,  stand  up  in  front  and  are  favourite 
resting-places  for  crowds  of  sea-fowl.  On  all  these  rock- 
faces,  whether  main  precipice  or  detached  outlier,  the 
peculiar  contour  of  the  curved  strata  may  be  traced,  giving 
the  scenery  a  character  of  its  own,  which  only  reappears 
with  the  recurrence  of  the  same  kind  of  geological 
stmcture. 


40  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  fin 


III. 
THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN,1 

ON  a  gentle  green  declivity  that  slopes  down  to  the  Water 
of  Girvan,  and  within  sight  of  the  broad  Firth  of  Clyde, 
which  the  Girvan  enters  only  three  miles  farther  down  the 
valley,  stands  a  large  gray  block  of  granite,  known  in  the 
district  as  the  Baron's  Stone  of  Killochan.  From  this  stone 
looking  seaward,  on  a  clear  day,  when  a  breeze  from  the 
north-west  has  freshened  the  Firth  into  deepest  azure,  you 
can  see,  far  away  beyond  the  bold  headlands  of  Carrick, 
the  long  blue  lines  of  the  hills  of  Antrim.  And  if  you  go 
but  a  few  yards  up  the  hill  you  may  trace  these  faint 
promontories  vanishing  into  the  west,  and  then  the  long 
low  hills  of  Cantyre  bounding  the  western  horizon,  while  in 
the  midst  of  the  wide  stretch  of  sea  Ailsa  Craig  lifts  its 
scarred  sides  noo  feet  above  the  surf  that  beats  about 
their  base.  The  nearer  landscape  is  formed  by  the  valley 
of  the  Girvan,  narrow  and  straight,  with  a  ridge  of  green 
hills  about  1000  feet  high  on  the  south  side,  a  range  of 
lower  wooded  eminences  on  the  north,  and  the  river  wind- 
ing in  endless  curves  along  the  bottom.  Looking  up  this 
valley,  the  eye  wanders  with  delight  over  a  mingled  group- 
ing of  woodland  and  meadow,  revealing  here  and  there  a 
reach  of  the  blue  stream  and  a  strip  of  soft  bright  pasture. 
1  Macmillarfs  Magazine,  XVII.,  1868. 


in]  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN.  41 

The  woods  climb  up  boldly  along  the  hillsides,  overshadowing 
every  little  dingle  and  watercourse,  and  so  sweeping 
onwards  up  the  valley,  in  every  tint  of  green,  and  every 
variety  of  mass  and  outline,  until  a  bend  of  the  hills  closes 
in  the  view.  Even  as  a  piece  of  scenery,  this  vale  of  the 
Girvan,  though  less  known  than  many  others  in  the  low- 
lands of  Scotland,  has  a  charm  which  these  often  want 
There  is  one  respect,  at  least,  wherein  it  has  a  peculiar 
interest.  I  know  of  few  Scottish  landscapes  so  circumscribed 
in  extent,  yet  into  which  are  crowded  so  many  human 
associations  of  bygone  times.  On  the  hill-tops  that  look 
down  upon  us  are  the  mouldering  ramparts  of  the  earthen 
forts  of  the  early  races.  From  the  lower  grounds  the  plough 
and  harrow  have  long  effaced  such  antique  memorials : 
but  the  traditions  of  the  primitive  people  survive  in  the 
very  names  of  the  hamlets  and  meadows.  From  these 
names  we  learn  of  Culdee  saints  to  whom  shrines  were 
erected  all  down  the  course  of  the  Girvan.  And  we  see 
how  the  natives  were  Celtic,  speaking  the  same  language 
that  still  survives  in  the  Highlands,  and  displaying  the 
same  nice  discrimination  and  poetic  turn  of  thought  in  the 
choice  of  names  for  their  rivers,  and  crags,  and  hills. 
The  castles  of  feudal  times  have  survived  better  in  this 
district  of  Ayrshire  than  in  most  other  parts  of  Scotland. 
There  are  the  remains  of  at  least  a  dozen  of  them  in  the 
lower  sixteen  miles  of  the  Girvan  valley.  Most  of  these, 
indeed,  are  ruinous;  but  some  still  form  part  of  more 
modern  mansions,  and  at  least  one — the  old  house  of 
Killochan— remains  nearly  as  it  was  some  three  hundred 
years  ago.  Nor  are  these  merely  interesting  from  their 
antiquity.  Each  is  linked  more  or  less  closely  with  the 
history  of  the  district,  and  sometimes  not  of  the  district 
only  but  of  the  kingdom  at  large.  For  the  barons  of 


42  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [in 

Carrick  were  a  warlike  race,  ever  at  feud  either  with  each 
other  or  with  their  neighbours  in  the  adjoining  sheriffdoms, 
and  they  had  power  enough  to  make  themselves  of  conse- 
quence for  good  or  ill  to  the  government  of  the  realm. 
But  of  the  barons  more  anon. 

Looking  at  the  great  size  and  weight  of  the  Stone  of 
Killochan,  one  is  tempted  at  the  very  first  to  ask  how  so 
large  a  block  came  to  be  where  it  now  lies.  It  measures 
roughly  about  480  cubic  feet,  and  must  thus  weigh  some- 
where about  thirty-seven  tons.  There  are  no  overhanging 
crags  from  which  it  could  have  rolled.  It  stands  high 
above  the  river,  and  fully  100  feet  above  the  sea,  so  that 
we  can  scarcely  imagine  it  to  have  been  washed  down  by 
floods,  even  if  its  great  size  did  not  forbid  such  a  supposi- 
tion. But  our  surprise  increases  when  we  find  that  this 
great  mass  of  rock  consists  entirely  of  a  close-grained 
granite.  There  is  in  the  neighbourhood  no  granite  hill 
from  which  it  could  have  been  detached.  Silurian  grits, 
slates  and  limestones,  Old  red  sandstones  and  conglome- 
rates, Carboniferous  shales,  freestones  and  coals,  form  all  the 
surrounding  country ;  but  there  is  no  granite.  Whence, 
then,  came  the  Baron's  Stone  ?  Perhaps  a  casual  visitor 
might  be  bold  enough  to  imagine  that  it  was  brought  up 
from  the  coast  by  some  of  the  old  barons,  having  been 
shipped  across  from  Arran.  The  size  of  the  boulder,  how- 
ever, is  enough  of  itself  to  show  the  absurdity  of  such  a 
notion.  Let  the  visitor  step  down  to  the  margin  of  the 
river  and  look  at  the  blocks  of  granite — less,  indeed,  in 
size,  but  similar  in  composition  and  form — which  are  lying 
by  scores  along  the  watercourse.  Let  him  turn  eastward 
into  the  picturesque  little  dell,  by  the  side  of  which  lies 
the  carriage  -  way  to  the  castle.  In  the  bed  of  the  rivulet 
he  will  see  another  set  of  large  granite  boulders,  one  of 


Hi]  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN.  43 

them  containing  about  200  cubic  feet  of  stone.  Through- 
out the  whole  valley,  in  short,  he  can  hardly  turn  any- 
where without  encountering  similar  boulders.  They  have 
been  mostly  cleared  -off  the  cultivated  places,  and  may 
be  seen  gathered  into  groups  at  the  corners  of  the  fields. 
They  crowd  the  bottom  of  all  the  streamlets.  The  field- 
fences  are  built  of  them ;  road  walls,  doorposts,  lintels, 
even  entire  cottage*,  have  been  made  out  of  these  widely- 
distributed  stones.  The  old  barons  would  have  had  but  a 
sorry  time  of  it  had  their  days  been  spent  in  bringing 
granite  boulders  from  a  distance  to  mar  their  own  fields 
and  cumber  their  moors  and  hillsides,  already  barren 
enough  by  nature.  They  could  then  have  enjoyed  but 
little  leisure  for  the  pastime  of  killing  and  maiming  each 
other.  And  yet  all  the  barons  of  Carrick,  with  all  their 
vassals  and  retainers  to  boot,  working  hard  together  for  five 
hundred  years,  could  not  have  done  a  thousandth  part  of 
the  work. 

So  conspicuous  a  feature  in  the  scenery  of  the  country 
could  not  well  escape  notice,  especially  in  early  times,  when 
a  supernatural  origin  was  easily  found  for  what  could  not 
otherwise  be  readily  explained.  I  have  not  yet  been  able 
to  recover  any  of  these  traditional  theories  about  the 
boulders  in  this  part  of  Scotland.  They  still  exist,  how- 
ever, in  other  districts;  and,  as  a  good  sample  of  the 
class,  especially  in  the  way  of  showing  the  dry  humour 
which  enters  so  largely  into  elfin  legend  north  of  the 
Tweed,  I  may  quote  one  which  came  under  my  own  notice 
some  time  ago  in  Clydesdale.  Not  many  miles  above  the 
Falls  of  Clyde  the  river  makes  some  serpentine  curves  through 
a  wide  alluvial  plain.  One  of  these  bends  approaches  the 
village  of  Carnwath,  and  the  stream  has  there  cut  away 
part  of  a  bank  of  soft  clay  and  sand,  on  which  are  scattered 


44  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [in 

a  number  of  blocks  of  greenstone.  An  intelligent  native 
of  Carnwath,  to  whom  I  applied  for  information  about  the 
former  number  of  boulders,  told  me  that  in  his  boyhood 
the  ground  between  the  river  and  the  Yelping  Craig,  about 
two  miles  off,  was  literally  strewed  over  with  blocks  of  all 
sizes,  up  to  masses  six  feet  or  more  in  height.  So  abundant 
were  they  to  the  south-west  of  Carnwath,  that  one  tract  was 
known  as  the  "  Hell  Stanes  Gate,"  i.e.  road,  and  another  as 
the  "  Hell  Stanes  Loan."  The  stones  have  now  well-nigh 
disappeared  under  the  sway  of  the  farmers,  but  the  old 
legend  of  their  origin  still  remains.  My  informant,  after 
pointing  out  the  graves  of  some  of  the  larger  boulders,  and 
the  broken  remains  of  others,  went  on  to  tell  how,  in  old 
times,  Michael  Scott  and  the  devil  had  entered  into  a  com- 
pact with  a  band  of  witches  to  dam  back  the  Clyde.  It 
was  one  of  the  conditions  of  the  agreement  that  the  name 
of  the  Supreme  Being  should  never  on  any  account  be 
mentioned.  All  went  well  for  a  while  ;  some  of  the  more 
stalwart  spirits  having  brought  their  burden  of  boulders  to 
within  a  few  yards  from  the  edge  of  the  river,  when  one  of 
the  younger  members  of  the  company,  staggering  under  the 
weight  of  a  huge  block  of  greenstone,  exclaimed,  "  O  Lord, 
but  I'm  tired."  Instantly  every  boulder  tumbled  to  the 
ground,  nor  could  either  witch,  warlock,  or  devil  move  a 
single  stone  one  step  thereafter.  And  there  the  blocks  lay 
for  many  a  long  century,  until  the  industrious  farmers 
quarried  and  blasted  and  buried  them. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  elfins  of  old  were  not 
less  busy  in  Carrick,  though  the  records  of  their  doings 
have  faded  from  tradition.  It  is  still  told,  however,  that 
one  witch,  of  more  than  ordinary  audacity  and  strength, 
lifted  a  great  hill  from  the  Ayrshire  uplands,  and,  putting 
it  in  her  apron,  made  off  through  the  air  for  Ireland.  But, 


in]  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN.  45 

as  bad  luck  would  have  it,  the  apron-strings  broke  on  the 
passage,  and  the  hill  fell  with  a  fearful  plunge  into  the 
Firth,  where  it  still  remains,  under  the  name  of  Ailsa 
Craig.  The  only  original  account  of  the  boulders  of  the 
Girvan  valley  which  has  come  under  my  notice  was  that  of 
a  mason,  who,  when  asked  his  idea  of  the  endless  blocks 
of  granite  that  dot  the  fields  and  hillsides  like  flocks  of 
sheep,  gravely  remarked  that  "  when  the  Almichtie  flang 
the  warld  out,  He  maun  ha'e  putten  thae  stanes  upon  her 
to  keep  her  steady." 

Supernatural  agency  failing  us,  we  come  back  again  to 
the  question,  Whence  came  the  Baron's  Stone  of  Killochan 
and  all  its  kindred  boulders  ?  There  is,  as  every  tourist 
knows,  a  great  mass  of  granite  in  Arran.  It  rises  into  the 
noble  cone  of  Goatfell,  and  forms  the  chains  of  jagged 
peaks  that  overshadow  the  denies  of  Glen  Rosa  and  Glen 
Sannox.  But  this  granite  is  not  the  same  as  that  of  the 
Carrick  boulders.  It  differs  in  texture,  partly  also  in 
composition,  and  in  certain  mineralogical  peculiarities  which 
need  not  be  specified  here.  There  can,  indeed,  be  no 
doubt  whatever  that  the  boulders  did  not  come  from  Arran. 
Where,  then,  is  their  source  to  be  sought?  Let  us  in 
imagination  make  our  way  up  the  valley  of  the  Girvan,  and 
note  as  we  go  such  changes  of  scenery  and  rock  as  may 
chance  to  throw  light  on  the  matter.  The  lower  or  sea- 
ward portion  of  the  river's  course  runs  along  the  northern 
base  of  a  tolerably  steep  line  of  hills,  rising,  as  I  have  said, 
to  heights  of  over  a  thousand  feet,  and  sweeping  away 
southward  and  eastward  into  the  wild  mountainous  up- 
lands of  Carrick  and  Galloway.  After  skirting  these  hills 
for  about  sixteen  miles,  among  woodlands  and  pleasure- 
grounds,  and  past  the  remains  of  ancient  strongholds,  the 
course  of  the  stream  bends  round  at  nearly  a  right  angle 


46  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [in 

towards  the  south,  and  enters  the  uplands  through  a  narrow 
and  deep  defile.  Looking  up  this  straitened  valley  the 
cultivated  country  lies  all  behind  us,  while  in  front  are  the 
lonely  hills.  The  change  of  scenery  takes  place  so  suddenly 
that  no  sooner  do  we  plunge  into  the  chain  of  hills  than 
the  rich  woods  and  cornfields  disappear,  steep  grassy  and 
rocky  declivities  descend  abruptly  upon  the  narrowed  strip 
of  alluvial  soil  that  borders  the  river ;  trees  occur  only  at 
intervals,  and  chiefly  down  the  watercourses ;  the  herbage 
grows  more  and  more  heathy,  and  traces  of  cultivation 
more  and  more  scanty,  until,  as  we  wind  up  the  valley,  we 
at  last  take  leave  of  all  signs  of  human  habitation,  and 
enter  upon  a  region  of  wide,  desolate,  treeless  moorland, 
and  gray  craggy  mountain.  The  lower  parts  of  the  course 
of  the  Girvan  lie  chiefly  upon  the  various  members  of  the 
Carboniferous  series  of  rocks.  But  the  upper  portion, 
which  winds  through  the  high  grounds,  has  been  hollowed 
out  of  the  northern  margin  of  the  wide  band  of  Silurian 
rocks  stretching  entirely  across  the  south  of  Scotland  from 
the  Irish  Sea  to  the  German  Ocean.  These  Silurian  strata, 
bent  and  broken  like  crumpled  parchments,  presenting  at 
the  surface  every  variety  of  crag  and  knoll,  dingle  and  dell, 
rounded  hill,  steep  precipice,  and  rough,  rugged  mountain, 
form  the  whole  of  the  wide  uplands  of  Carrick  and  Gallo- 
way, where  they  mount  to  a  height  of  more  than  2700  feet 
above  the  sea.  It  is  on  the  northern  flank  of  the  highest 
chain  of  the  great  central  group  of  hills  that  the  Girvan  lias 
its  source.  Following  its  course  upwards  from  the  lowland 
country,  we  find  the  same  abundance  of  boulders  in  the 
narrowed  valley  as  in  the  more  open  parts  towards  the  sea. 
Still  we  fail  to  trace  any  granite  forming  a  solid  part  of  a 
hill.  Conglomerate,  shale,  grit,  porphyry,  and  other  kinds 
of  rock,  crop  out  along  the  sides  of  the  glens,  but  without 


in]  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN.  47 

any  symptoms  of  granite.  And  yet  the  granite  boulders, 
gray  and  lichened,  are  strewed  over  these  hillsides,  just  as 
they  were  seen  far  down  over  the  Carboniferous  strata  of 
the  low  grounds.  At  a  height  of  between  700  and  800 
feet  above  the  sea  there  are  some  remarkable  mounds  on 
our  way,  formed  of  loose  earth  and  clay,  with  abundance 
of  boulders  of  various  Silurian  rocks,  and  here  and  there 
with  large  blocks  of  granite  strewed  over  their  surface. 
Similar  mounds  occur  higher  up,  and  all  the  interval  is 
studded  as  usual  with  granite  boulders.  Still  we  can  see 
no  granite  in  place.  Passing  one  or  two  small  lakes  or 
lochans,  which  receive  and  discharge  the  waters  of  the 
Girvan  in  an  undulating  mossy  tract  of  ground,  we  begin 
to  be  utterly  amazed  at  the  prodigious  quantity  as  well  as 
the  great  size  of  the  granite  blocks.  Gray  and  lichen- 
crusted,  or  crumbling  into  sand,  they  are  scattered  over 
the  valley  by  thousands.  They  lie  on  all  manner  of  de- 
clivities, sometimes  on  mounds  of  rubbish,  sometimes  on 
prominent  ridges  of  rocks,  and  sometimes  half- buried  in 
peat-bogs,  like  groups  of  "  laired  "  cattle.  Moreover,  as  we 
rise  with  this  broken  ground,  our  eyes  are  struck  with  the 
strange  hummocky  shapes  into  which  the  hillsides  have 
been  worn.  The  solid  rock  comes  almost  everywhere  to 
the  daylight  in  the  form  of  rounded  knolls  and  hollows, 
which,  especially  where  they  have  been  preserved  from  the 
wear  and  tear  of  the  weather  by  a  coating  of  turf  or  soil, 
have  a  singularly  smoothed  and  polished  appearance,  which 
is  rendered  all  the  more  marked,  seeing  that  the  edges  of 
the  vertical  strata  have  been  ground  down  into  one  common 
undulating  surface.  On  such  rounded  and  polished  bosses 
of  rock  the  never-failing  granite  boulders  may  be  seen  at 
every  turn.  At  length  the  valley  narrows  in  a  scene  of 
strange  lonely  grandeur.  The  brawling  brook — it  no  longer 


48  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [in 

merits  the  title  of  river — throws  its  amber  waters  into  foam 
over  endless  boulders  that  choke  up  its  channel.  And 
then,  where  the  torrent  breaks  impatiently  from  the  lower 
end  of  another  lochan,  among  hardened  beds  of  Silurian 
grit  and  shale,  we  enter  upon  a  great  mass  of  granite,  which 
forms  the  remaining  mile  of  the  course  of  the  Girvan,  and 
rises  high  on  either  hand  into  gray  rugged  hills.  Crags 
of  granite  of  every  size  and  form  stand  up  bleached  and 
barren  from  the  brown  heath.  Blocks  of  granite  in  endless 
varieties  of  bulk  and  shape  lie  strewed  about,  beneath  and 
around  the  crags  from  which  they  have  been  detached. 
The  river  issues  from  a  little  tarn,  called  Loch  Girvan  Eye, 
filling  a  rock-basin  in  the  granite,  1600  feet  above  the  sea. 
Round  this  sheet  of  water  the  rugged  ground  is  cumbered 
with  blocks  that  seem  just  waiting  their  turn  to  be  borne 
away  down  to  the  lower  grounds.  To  the  south,  a  high 
bleak  mountain  ridge  ascends  to  an  elevation  of  2700  feet 
above  the  sea  and  1 100  over  the  parent  tarn  of  the  Girvan. 
Here,  then,  at  last,  is  the  source  of  the  granite  boulders  of 
the  valley.  It  was  from  these  lonely  hillsides  that  the 
Baron's  Stone  of  Killochan  was  carried. 

From  these  high  grounds  millions  of  boulders  of  all 
sizes,  up  to  masses  weighing  at  least  thirty  or  forty  tons, 
have  been  borne  seawards  and  strewed  over  the  lower  hills 
and  valleys  of  Carrick.  What  agency  could  transport  them  ? 
It  is  plain  that  no  flood  of  fresh  water  could  have  scattered 
them,  for  they  are  often  perched  on  the  hill-tops  800  or 
900  feet  above  the  valleys  in  which  the  streams  are  run- 
ning. Nor  is  it  conceivable  that  at  a  former  time,  when 
the  level  of  the  land  was  much  lower  than  it  is  now,  any 
great  ocean-wave  could  have  taken  its  rise  within  a  limited 
area  of  what  is  now  the  highest  ground  in  the  south  of 
Scotland,  and  carried  with  it  in  one  vast  resistless  debacle 


Ill]  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN.  49 

such  enormous  quantities  of  boulders,  so  as  not  merely  to 
bring  them  down  into  deep  confined  valleys,  but  actually  to 
sweep  them  up  again  to  the  summits  of  the  seaward  hills. 

Such  work  as  this  could  have  been  done  by  only  one 
agency  in  nature — that  of  ice. 

When  we  once  embrace  the  idea  that  the  transport  of 
these  endless  heaps  of  boulders  has  been  effected  by  ice, 
the  difficulties  which  previously  seemed  insuperable  one  by 
one  disappear.  And  the  more  we  examine  into  the  facts 
of  the  case,  the  more  firm  becomes  our  conviction  that  this, 
after  all,  is  the  true  theory.  Looking  at  the  Carrick  hills 
with  an  eye  that  has  been  trained  in  the  study  of  what  are 
known  as  glacial  phenomena,  the  geologist  sees  at  every 
turn  traces  of  a  time  when  one  wide  mantle  of  ice  and  snow 
was  thrown  far  and  wide  over  the  hills  and  valleys.  The 
peculiarly-shaped  hummocks  and  bosses  of  rock,  so  shorn 
and  smoothed,  recall  at  once  the  roches  moutonnees,  or  ice- 
worn  rocks,  of  Alpine  valleys.  The  huge  blocks  of  granite 
strewed  along  the  hillsides  remind  one  of  the  blocs  perches 
that  abound  on  the  flanks  of  the  Swiss  mountains,  where 
they  have  been  left  by  the  retreating  glaciers.  The  mounds 
of  earth  and  rubbish,  noted  in  the  ascent  of  the  course  of 
the  Girvan,  are  quite  comparable  with  the  moraines  or 
rubbish-heaps  that  are  shed  from  the  ends  of  glaciers  at 
the  present  day.  Indeed,  the  whole  contour  of  the  ground, 
especially  in  the  upper  parts  of  the  Girvan  valley,  suggests 
at  a  glance  the  former  existence  there  of  a  massive  sheet 
of  ice  which,  descending  ceaselessly  from  the  higher  tracts 
towards  the  sea,  ground  down  and  smoothed  the  surface  of 
the  rocks  over  which  it  moved.  I  have  noticed  in  these 
uplands  many  examples  of  what  are  known  as  "  dressed 
surfaces "  on  the  rocks,  and  they  are  well  seen  in  many 
places  near  the  sea.  These  "  dressings "  are  long  ruts, 


50  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [in 

scratches,  and  fine  striae,  running  in  a  determinate  line 
across  the  smoothed  surfaces  of  the  rocks.  They  look  like 
what  might  be  artificially  produced  by  pushing  sand,  gravel, 
and  stones,  under  enormous  pressure,  along  a  polished 
plane  of  rock.  And  there  cannot  be  any  doubt  that  it  was 
really  by  the  attrition  of  such  materials  that  the  scratches 
were  made,  and  that  the  pressure  and  onward  movement 
were  given  by  the  vast  overlying  bed  of  ice.  Similar  dress- 
ings are  familiar  features  of  the  rocks  in  Alpine  valleys, 
where  the  trend  of  the  striae  runs  in  the  same  line  as  the 
valley — that  is,  of  course,  in  the  direction  in  which  the 
glacier  has  moved. 

The  water  which  percolates  through  the  numerous 
joints  and  fissures  of  a  rocky  cliff  and  freezes  there  in 
winter,  widens  by  its  expansion  the  crevices  it  occupies. 
This  operation  being  often  repeated,  there  comes  at  last  a 
time  when  the  wedges  of  ice  have  so  effectually  sundered  a 
mass  from  its  parent  cliff  that  it  falls  headlong  into  the 
valley.  Should  a  glacier  occupy  the  bottom  of  the  valley 
below,  the  loosened  rocks  gather  in  heaps  on  the  surface 
of  the  ice.  Once  there,  they  are  slowly  and  steadily  carried 
down  the  valley  until — unless  some  rent  in  the  ice  should 
swallow  them  up  by  the  way — they  are  thrown  down  at 
the  end  of  the  glacier,  perhaps  many  leagues  from  the  cliffs 
whence  they  originally  came.  In  high  northern  latitudes 
the  glaciers,  instead  of  melting  far  in  the  interior  of  the 
country,  as  those  of  the  Alps  do,  actually  push  their  way 
out  to  sea,  and  break  off  in  vast  masses,  which  float  away 
seaward  as  icebergs.  It  is  clear  that,  if  the  surface  of  the 
glacier  has  been  cumbered  with  boulders  and  rocky  rubbish 
in  the  inland  glens,  it  will  (  carry  this  burden  with  it  as  it 
moves  down  to  the  sea-level ;  and  the  masses  of  ice  which 
break  off  from  the  end  of  the  glacier  will,  in  like  manner, 


Hi]  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN.  51 

bear  their  cargoes  of  earth  and  stones  as  they  journey  over 
the  ocean.  And,  as  these  ice-islands  melt  away,  their  rocky 
cargoes  must  be  scattered  far  and  wide  over  the  bottom  of 
the  sea.  By  this  system  of  transport  the  ruins  of  many 
an  Arctic  valley  are  strewn  over  the  fjords  and  sounds  of 
Greenland. 

At  the  time  when  the  granite  boulders  of  Carrick  were 
transported  from  their  original  home  among  the  hills,  the 
land  was  so  deeply  buried  under  snow  and  ice  that  a 
massive  ice -sheet  crept  down  to  the  sea -level  from  the 
mountains  of  Carrick  and  Galloway,  filling  up  the  valleys 
and  overriding  the  lower  hills,  even  up  to  a  height  of  more 
than  1000  feet  above  the  present  sea-level.  The  more 
precipitous  eminences  of  the  uplands  rose  above  the  surface 
of  the  ice  on  which  they  shed  their  frost-broken  boulders 
of  granite.  Not  improbably  at  the  time  of  extremest  cold 
the  ice-sheet  descended  to  the  sea,  and  may  have  advanced 
for  some  way  into  its  waters,  where  its  margin  broke  up 
into  fleets  of  bergs  that  sailed  away  seawards,  dropping 
over  the  submerged  land  their  freight  of  granite  boulders. 
As  happens  within  the  Arctic  circle  at  the  present  day,  the 
cold  may  have  been  so  intense  as  to  freeze  the  waters  of 
the  ocean  and  invest  the  coast-line  of  that  ancient  Scotland 
with  a  solid  encrusting  zone  of  ice.  Such  an  ice -cake 
would  envelop  many  a  stone  lying  along  the  beach,  and, 
when  broken  up  by  the  storms  of  summer,  would  carry  its 
imprisoned  boulders  away  to  sea,  and  finally  drop  them  on 
the  bottom.  It  is  far  from  improbable  that  this  process 
was  also  in  play  during  the  long  migration  of  the  Carrick 
boulders.  There  still  exist,  in  abundance,  along  some  parts 
of  the  shores  of  the  Clyde  estuary,  the  remains  of  the  shells 
which  tenanted  the  sea  during  this  cold  era  in  our  country's 
past  history.  Many  of  these  shells  are  still  natives  of  the 


5*  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [m 

neighbouring  firth ;  some,  however,  and  these  often  the 
most  abundant,  have  long  since  died  out  in  the  British 
seas,  though  they  still  flourish  in  the  waters  of  the  Arctic 
Ocean.  They  are  naturally  adapted  to  a  cold  climate ; 
and  their  abundance  in  the  old  sea-bottoms  of  the  glacial 
period  that  occur  on  the  west  coast,  affords  a  curious 
corroboration  of  the  testimony  of  the  boulders  that  the 
climate  of  the  British  Islands  was  once  as  severe  as  that  of 
modern  Greenland. 

So  here  at  last  is  the  history  of  the  origin  of  the  Baron's 
Stone  of  Killochan.  It  once  formed  part  of  a  cliff,  some 
2000  feet  over  its  present  site,  far  away  up  among  the 
lonely  mountains  that  look  down  upon  Loch  Doon.  And, 
when  it  occupied  its  place  in  that  cliff,  the  mountains  around 
were  cased  deep  in  snow,  and  the  glens  were  clogged  with 
thick  masses  of  ice  which,  with  block -covered  surface, 
moved  steadily  seaward.  The  granite  cliff,  like  its  repre- 
sentatives at  the  present  day,  traversed  in  all  directions 
with  joints  and  fissures,  was  liable  to  be  split  up  into  large 
angular  blocks.  One  of  these  masses,  weighing  at  least 
thirty- seven  tons,  was  loosened  one  day  from  its  resting- 
place  and  rolled  down  among  the  ruin  of  boulders  that  lay 
heaped  upon  the  glacier  below.  With  the  ice  in,  its  steady 
seaward  progress,  this  granite  boulder  moved  mile  after 
mile  over  ice-buried  hill  and  glen;  receiving,  doubtless, 
many  a  dint  from  brother  blocks  hurried  from  their  long 
silence  in  the  cliffs  to  join  the  rattle  of  the  ice-borne  heaps 
beneath.  Whether  the  transport  was  entirely  done  by  the 
sheet  of  moving  land -ice,  or  whether  the  last  part  of  the 
journey  was  performed  upon  a  detached  berg  floating  off 
into  the  sea,  may  be  matter  of  debate.  But  this  at  least  is 
certain,  that,  after  travelling  some  eighteen  miles  from  its 
source,  the  boulder  was  finally  stranded  on  or  near  the 


in]  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN.  53 

spot  where  it  still  remains.  Many  a  shifting  scene  has 
come  over  the  face  of  the  country  since  then.  The  ice- 
fields have  disappeared,  and  with  them  the  hairy  elephants 
and  woolly  rhinoceroses,  reindeer  and  elks,  which  then 
roamed  over  the  land ;  forests  have  sprung  up  and  departed  ; 
the  river  has  worn  its  way  through  cliffs  of  solid  stone,  and 
has  rolled  out  many  a  fair  meadow :  but  there  still  stands 
the  granite  boulder — a  silent  memorial  of  the  long-vanished 
ice  age. 

But  the  Baron's  Stone  has  another  history,  and  from  this 
it  takes  its  name.  The  granite  boulders  of  Carrick  have 
served  as  an  inexhaustible  quarry  from  the  earliest  times. 
They  may  be  seen  forming  a  part  of  the  ramparts  of  the 
hill  forts  of  the  early  British  tribes.  Set  upright,  they  some- 
times have  served  as  rough  unchiselled  monumental  stones. 
A  rude  carving  may,  indeed,  be  traced  on  some  of  these 
monoliths.  Thus,  on  the  eastern  flanks  of  the  Brown 
Carrick  Hill,  a  few  miles  south  of  the  town  of  Ayr,  lies  an 
oblong  block  of  gray  granite  weighing  about  two  tons.  It 
has  evidently  at  one  time  been  upright,  and  on  the  original 
face,  which  forms  now  the  upper  surface  of  the  stone,  a 
rude  cross  has  been  carved,  having  the  same  outline  as  the 
common  monumental  crosses  of  the  West  Highlands.  That 
the  stone  served  as  a  memorial  of  the  dead  can  hardly  be 
doubted.  So  simple  an  explanation,  however,  suited  not 
the  marvel -loving  fancy  of  the  old  Carrick  men.  Aber- 
crummie,  the  episcopal  curate  of  Maybole,  who  was  "outed" 
on  the  re-establishment  of  Presbyterianism,  wrote  a  "Descrip- 
tion of  Carrick  "  about  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  '} 
and,  in  alluding  to  this  sculptured  stone,  he  calls  it  "  a  big 
whinstone,  upon  which  there  is  the  dull  figure  of  a  Crosse  : 
which  is  alledged  to  have  been  done  by  some  venerable 
churchman,  who  did  mediat  a  peace  twixt  the  King  of  the 


54  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [in 

Picts  and  Scots  ;  and  to  give  the  more  authority  to  his 
proposall  did  in  their  sight,  by  laying  a  crosse  upon  the 
stone,  imprint  that  figure  thereon."  Another  legend  repre- 
sents the  cross  as  the  impression  of  Sir  William  Wallace's 
sword,  which,  having  been  laid  on  the  stone  at  nightfall, 
left  its  mould  in  the  hard  granite  ere  morning.  A  third 
version  of  the  story  relates  how  Wallace  fought  single-handed 
against  a  host  of  Englishmen,  and  how  his  sword,  happen- 
ing to  strike  against  the  stone,  cut  its  likeness  thereon  by 
the  blow ! 

The  barons  of  Carrick  found  the  boulders  too  hard  to  be 
dressed  for  the  walls  of  their  castles ;  but  they  used  them 
with  great  effect  to  form  the  foundations,  as  in  the  stately 
castle  of  Dalquharran,  on  the  banks  of  the  Girvan.  In 
recent  times,  as  already  said,  they  have  been  built  into 
stone  fences,  cut  into  gateposts,  and  squared  into  blocks,  of 
which  tombstones  and  obelisks  have  beep  made. 

The  Baron's  Stone  of  Killochan,  however,  does  not 
seem  ever  to  have  had  a  tool  upon  it,  until,  some  years  ago, 
the  proprietor  had  its  name  carved  on  its  side  to  mark  it  as 
sacred  from  the  hands  of  the  relentless  farmer.  Tradition 
tells  that  it  served  as  the  judgment-seat  of  the  old  barons 
of  Killochan,  where  they  mustered  their  men,  planned  their 
raids,  shared  the  booty,  and  hanged  or  cut  off  the  heads 
of  refractory  prisoners.  The  family  name  is  Cathcart,  and 
the  property  still  remains  in  their  hands.  They  are  said 
to  trace  their  genealogy  back  to  the  days  of  the  Bruce,  a 
charter  from  whom  still  exists  among  the  family  archives. 
Though  overshadowed  by  the  power  and  influence  of  the 
Kennedies,  the  Cathcarts  played  their  part  in  the  troublous 
history  of  Carrick.  Three  brothers,  including  the  Laird 
himself,  died  on  the  field  of  Flodden.  Alan,  third  Lord 
Cathcart,  fell  at  Pinkie.  The  son  of  the  Flodden  hero  con- 


ill]  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN.  55 

trived  to  rouse  the  enmity  of  a  branch  of  the  Kennedies 
who  had  lands  among  the  hills  to  the  south,  and  suffered 
the  loss  of  his  left  hand,  besides  sundry  cuttings  and  wound- 
ings  about  the  face.  His  grandson  makes  a  more  notable 
figure  in  the  history.  Choosing  a  pretty  reach  of  the 
Girvan,  a  few  hundred  yards  east  from  the  Baron's  stone, 
where  possibly  an  older  castle  stood,  he  built  a  quaint 
mansion  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  which  still  stands,  and 
is  known  as  the  old  House  or  Castle  of  Killochan.  It  is 
a  characteristic  specimen  of  the  Scottish  architecture  of 
the  period — a  sort  of  passage  from  the  old  feudal  keep  01 
tower  to  the  more  recent  mansion-house.  '1  he  need  of  a 
strongly-fortified  retreat,  with  loopholes  and  portcullis,  had 
ceased  to  exist ;  but  the  builders  still  made  their  walls  four 
or  five  feet  thick,  and,  though  they  were  no  longer  afraid 
to  open  out  windows,  they  kept  such  openings  as  small  as 
might  be.  They  had  been  building  flanking-towers  so  long 
too,  that  they  could  not  but  add  one  or  two  to  the  corners 
of  the  house.  Moreover,  they  must  needs  cut  the  coping 
into  embrasures,  but  instead  of  leaving  them  free  for  har- 
quebuss  or  crossbow,  they  peaceably  surmounted  each  with 
a  short  dumpy  spire,  like  the  cap  of  a  pepper-box.  Over 
the  doorway  is  another  indication  of  the  advancing  civilisa- 
tion of  the  time ;  it  is  an  inscription  which  runs  thus  : — 
•'This  work  was  begun  the  i  of  Marche  1586  Be  Johne 
Cathcart  of  Carlton  and  Helene  Wallace  his  Spous  The 
name  of  the  Lord  is  ane  strang  tour  and  the  rychteous  in 
thair  troublis  rinnis  into  and  findeth  refuge.  Prov  18  vers 
10."  It  is  unnecessary  to  remark  that  this  is  from  an  older 
translation  of  the  Scriptures  than  our  Authorised  Version. 
The  house — as  appears  from  a  curious  set  of  carvings  inside, 
representing  the  founder  with  his  wife,  and  apparently  his 
son  and  daughter — took  several  years  to  build.  It  stands 


56  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [in 

at  the  edge  of  a  flat  strip  of  alluvial  meadow  bordering  the 
river,  and  is  surrounded  with  old  trees  and  hedgerows,  and 
a  terraced  garden  of  the  antique  type.  A  year  or  two  after 
the  completion  of  his  architectural  and  horticultural  labours 
at  Killochan,  the  Laird  was  summoned  to  attend  "  the 
Leutennentis  Raid  of  Dumfreis."  Like  a  great  many  other 
lairds,  he  thought  proper  to  stay  away,  and  was  "delatit" 
in  consequence.  Next  year — namely,  at  the  close  of  1601 
— he  was  engaged,  and  his  son  with  him,  in  one  of  the 
most  memorable  feuds  in  Ayrshire.  The  Laird  of  Bargany 
and  the  Earl  of  Cassilis,  both  Kennedies,  and  both  com- 
paratively young  men,  had  long  been  at  feud.  Each  jealous 
of  the  other's  power,  they  were  ready  to  fly  to  arms  to 
avenge  a  real  or  fancied  insult,  and  it  cost  King  James  no 
little  anxiety  to  keep  the  peace  between  them.  We  find  at 
one  time  the  young  Laird  of  Killochan  sent  by  Bargany, 
his  neighbour,  to  demand  from  the  Earl  of  Cassilis  the 
origin  of  a  calumnious  statement  made  by  him.  On  another 
occasion,  when  there  was  like  to  be  blood  spilt  between 
the  rivals  and  their  followers  about  the  rents  of  certain 
fields  near  the  sea,  the  old  Laird  Cathcart  became  surety 
for  the  peaceable  settlement  of  the  dispute.  But  these 
repeated  quarrels,  though  quieted  for  a  time,  left  their  dark 
sediment  of  malice  and  revenge  in  the  breasts  of  both  the 
chieftains.  "The  King  gart  thame  schaik  handis,"  says  the 
old  chronicler  of  these  feuds,  "  but  not  with  their  hairttis." 
At  last,  at  the  end  of  the' year  1601,  the  Earl  hearing  that 
Bargany,  with  a  small  band  of  friends  and  retainers,  was 
on  his  way  south  from  Ayr,  assembled  a  large  armed  force 
to  waylay  him.  The  two  parties  met  near  Maybole  ; 
Bargany,  seeing  the 'enormous  disparity  of  numbers,  tried 
to  avoid  a  combat,  and  rode  on  with  one  part  of  his  horse- 
men, while  the  young  Cathcart  followed  at  the  head  of  the 


Hi]  THE  BARON'S  STONE  OF  KILLOCHAN.  57 

rest.  But  the  Earl  and  his  company  were  determined  tc 
use  their  advantage,  and  began  to  fire  across  the  valley. 
Bargany's  men  being  now  in  clanger,  he  boldly  rode  forward 
with  only  two  or  three  friends,  and,  pushing  into  the  heart 
of  his  enemies,  called  out  loudly  for  the  Earl.  Fighting 
his  way  onward,  he  soon  had  a  host  before  and  behind 
him.  After  a  brave  resistance,  he  was  mortally  wounded ; 
but  his  horse  bore  him  back  to  his  own  men,  among  whom 
he  died  soon  after.  The  chronicler  does  not  say  what  part 
the  young  Laird  of  Killochan  took  in  the  fight  He 
mentions  the  names  of  four  comrades  who  dashed  with 
Bargany  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  but  Cathcart  is  not 
among  them. 

The  next  hundred  years  saw  the  reign  of  the  Charleses 
and  the  Revolution,  with  the  weary  warfare  of  religious 
intolerance  between  Presbytery  and  Episcopacy.  Ayrshire 
was  a  stronghold  of  the  Presbyterians,  and  its  remoter  hills 
served  as  a  favourite  retreat  from  the  authority  of  the 
Government.  The  old  laird'  who  built  the  house  of  Kil- 
lochan must  have  witnessed  the  earlier  scenes  of  that  long 
strife,  for  he  was  alive  towards  the  close  of  1612,  and  in 
October  of  that  year,  "being  sick  in  bodie,  but  haill  in 
mynd,"  he  made  his  will.  He  seems  to  have  been  in  old 
age  imbued  with  a  large  measure  of  the  religious  fervour  of 
the  period,  if  the  words  of  Wodrow,  as  is  probable,  are  to 
be  referred  to  this  individual.  "  The  old  laird  of  Carltoun 
was  extraordinary  at  solving  of  cases  of  conscience,"  says 
Wodrow,  and  he  gives  an  instance  of  how  Dickson,  who 
afterwards  became  a  leader  among  the  Presbyterians,  had 
his  doubts  and  fears  as  a  student  cleared  away  by  the 
graphic  exhortations  of  the  old  laird  to  whom  he  applied 
for  relief.  "  The  said  Laird  of  Carltoun,"  he  adds,  "  was 
wonderfully  holy  and  heavenly  in  his  family,  and  he  had 


58  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [in 

this  peculiar  way  :  He  retired  awhile  his  lone,  be  with  him 
who  would,  before  family  worship,  which  ordinarily  was 
before  dinner,  and  came  directly  out  of  his  closet  to 
worship ;  and,  be  in  the  family  who  would,  he  retired 
immediately  after  worship  to  his  closett  till  the  meat  was 
set  on  the  table,  and  then  he  came  to  dinner  and  was  ex- 
tremely pleasant,  for  ordinary,  to  his  conversation." 

Some  of  the  later  lairds  of  Killochan  have  been  in  the 
army ;  but,  though  they  have  lived  little  on  their  estates  in 
this  part  of  Scotland,  they  have,  with  praiseworthy  reverence, 
maintained  the  old  house  in  its  original  condition.  The 
wainscot  fittings,  thick-mullioned  windows,  old-fashioned 
grates,  chairs,  and  cabinets,  antique  four-post  beds  and 
faded  hangings,  with  the  quaint  grouping  of  tree  and  terrace, 
and  mossy  lawn  round  the  building,  still  remain  much  as 
they  were  during  the  lifetime  of  the  builder.  Nor  have 
they  with  less  care  guarded  the  oldest  of  all  their  heir- 
looms ;  and  so,  while  the  progress  of  agriculture  has 
ploughed  the  fields,  and  swept  away  thousands  of  the  huge 
granite  boulders  which  of  old  cumbered  the  ground,  the 
gentle  green  slope  that  looks  down  on  the  Girvan,  and  far 
away  over  to  Ireland,  still  keeps  its  memories  of  the  past, 
and  its  gray  shattered  Baron's  Stone  of  Killochan. 


IV]  THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK.  59 


IV. 

THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK.1 

COMPARATIVELY  few  of  the  many  hundreds  of  tourists  who 
flock  every  summer  to  that  part  of  Scotland  which  the 
guide-books  have  styled  "  The  Land  of  Burns  "  find  their 
way  farther  south  than  "  Alloway's  auld  haunted  kirk  "  and 
the  famous  "brig"  which  lay  so  opportunely  in  Tarn  o' 
Shanter's  line  of  retreat.  When  the  weather  is  clear  they 
get  a  distant  view  of  the  hills,  which  rise  beyond  the  Doon 
into  a  background  that  has  neither  any  striking  outlines 
nor  sufficient  loftiness  to  form  a  notable  feature  in  the  re 
moter  landscape.  And  yet  if  the  visitor  whose  time  and 
route  are  at  his  own  disposal  will  bravely  penetrate  these 
far  uplands,  he  will  find  much,  both  in  the  way  of  scenery 
and  of  historic  and  legendary  interest,  to  reward  his  enter- 
prise. It  is  a  lonely  pastoral  region,  deeply  trenched  with 
long  and  narrow  valleys,  the  seaward  portions  of  which  are 
often  well  wooded  and  contrast  with  the  singularly  bare 
though  verdant  aspect  of  the  high  grounds  on  either  side. 
The  whole  of  that  district  was  called  in  old  times  Carrick 
— a  Celtic  name  still  in  use  among  the  people,  and  descrip- 
tive of  the  rugged,  rocky  character  of  most  of  the  surface. 
The  bones  of  the  country  seem  indeed  everywhere  to  be 
Sticking  through  the  scanty  skin  of  soil  and  turf;  and  yet 
1  Good  Words,  May  1873. 


60  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [iv 

the  abundant  droves  of  black-faced  sheep  and  black  cattle, 
and  the  stores  of  excellent  butter  and  cheese  which  every 
year  come  out  of  these  hills  to  the  great  markets,  bear 
witness  to  the  quality  of  the  pasture.  It  might  have  been 
hoped  that  in  so  rocky  a  tract  minerals  of  some  sort  would 
be  found  to  compensate  for  the  comparative  poorness  of 
the  surface.  Many  a  viewer  and  "  prospector  "  has  scoured 
the  sides  of  the  hills  and  valleys.  Copper,  lead,  and  iron 
in  small  quantities  have  been  found ;  but  there  seems  no 
probability  that  the  pastoral  character  of  the  country  will 
ever  be  to  any  serious  extent  disturbed  by  mining  opera- 
tions. And  yet,  curiously  enough,  in  one  of  the  deep 
valleys  on  the  northern  margin  of  the  hilly  tracts  of  Car- 
rick  a  small  coal-field  exists— a  little  bit  of  the  great 
Scottish  coal-field,  which  by  some  ancient  terrestrial  revo- 
lution has  got  detached  from  the  rest,  and  become,  as  it 
were,  jammed  in  between  the  two  steep  sides  of  the  valley 
of  the  Girvan. 

The  colliers  of  Scotland  have  been  in  all  time  a  distinct 
and  a  superstitious  population.  For  many  a  long  century 
they  and  the  makers  of  salt  were  slaves,  bought  and  sold 
with  the  land  on  which  they  were  born,  and  from  which 
they  had  no  more  right  to  remove  themselves  than  if  they 
had  been  of  African  descent,  and  born  in  Carolina.  Cus- 
toms and  beliefs  which  had  gradually  died  out  elsewhere 
naturally  lingered  for  a  time  among  the  colliers  5  and  indeed 
until  the  general  use  of  steam  machinery  and  the  invasion 
of  an  Irish  labouring  population,  the  Scottish  miners  main- 
tained much  of  their  singularity.  Down  in  that  little  coal- 
field of  Carrick,  however,  shut  out  from  the  rest  of  the 
mining  districts,  and  even  in  no  small  degree  from  the 
country  at  large,  the  colliers  preserved  until  only  a  few 
years  ago  many  traits  which  we  are  accustomed  to  think 


iv]  THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK.  61 

had  died  out  several  generations  before.  No  railway  came 
near  the  place ;  no  highway  led  through  it.  Lying  near 
the  sea,  it  yet  could  boast  of  no  good  harbour  within  reach 
to  stimulate  the  coal  industry.  Even  the  local  demand  for 
coal  was  too  small  to  admit  of  any  extensive  workings ; 
and  so  the  mining  population  continued  the  same  quaint 
old  ways  which  it  had  been  used  to  for  a  century  or  two, 
keeping  up,  among  other  things,  many  of  its  characteristic 
superstitions. 

Some  years  ago,  on  geological  errand  bent,  I  had 
occasion  to  pass  a  number  of  months  in  that  sequestered 
locality,  and  to  mingle  with  the  colliers  themselves,  as  well 
as  their  employers.  In  this  way  I  was  led  to  glean  remi- 
niscences of  habits  and  beliefs,  now  nearly  as  extinct  as  the 
fossils  in  the  rocks  which  were  the  more  special  objects  of 
research.  These  gleanings,  as  illustrating  former  phases  of 
our  rural  population,  are  perhaps  not  unworthy  of  record. 
I  propose,  therefore,  in  the  present  paper  to  relate  an  in- 
cident, perhaps  one  of  the  most  striking  in  the  history  of 
coal-mining  in  this  country,  which  occurred  in  this  little 
Girvan  coal-field,  and  which  furnishes  examples  of  several 
of  the  more  characteristic  features  of  the  old  Scottish 
collier. 

In  the  quiet  churchyard  of  Dailly,  within  hearing  of  the 
gurgle  of  the  Girvan  and  the  sough  of  the  old  pines  of 
Dalquharran,  lie  the  unmarked  graves  of  generations  of 
colliers ;  but  among  them  is  one  with  a  tombstone  bearing 
the  following  inscription  : — • 


62  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [iv 

IN    MEMORY  OF 

JOHN  BROWN,  COLLIER, 

who  was  enclosed  in 
Kilgrammie  Coal-pit,  by  a  portion  of  it  having  fallen  in, 

Oct.  8th,  1835, 

and  was  taken  out  alive, 

and  in  full  possession  of  his  mental  faculties, 

but  in  a  very  exhausted  state, 

Oct.  3  ist, 

having  been  twenty-three  days  in  utter  seclusion 
from  the  world,  and  without  a  particle  of  food. 

He  lived  for  three  days  after, 
having  quietly  expired  on  the  evening  of 

Nov.  3rd, 
Aged  66  years. 

Three  weeks  without  food  in  the  depths  of  the  earth  ! 
It  seemed  hardly  credible,  and  I  set  myself  to  gather  such 
recollections  as  might  still  remain.  I  discovered  that  a 
narrative  of  the  circumstances  had  been  published  shortly 
after  the  date  of  their  occurrence  ;  but  I  was  fortunate 
enough  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  people  who  were  resi 
dent  in  the  district  during  the  calamity,  and  from  whom  I 
obtained  details  which  do  not  seem  ever  to  have  found 
their  way  into  print.  Much  of  my  information  was  derived 
from  an  old  collier  who  was  one  of  the  survivors.  His 
narrative  andv  that  of  the  other  contemporaries  of  the  event 
brought  out  in  a  strong  light  the  superstition  of  the  colliers, 
and  furnished  additional  evidence  as  to  one  of  the  longest 
survivals  without  food  of  which  authentic  record  exists. 

On  the  6th  October  1835,  in  a  remote  part  of  the  old 
coal-mine  of  Kilgrammie,  near  Dailly,  John  Brown,  the 
hero  of  this  tragedy,  was  at  work  alone.  Sixty-six  years  of 
age,  but  hale  in  body  and  fond  of  fun,  he  had  long  been  a 
favourite  with  his  fellow-workmen,  more  especially  with  the 


IV]  THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK.  63 

younger  colliers,  whom  his  humour  and  story-telling  used 
to  bring  to  his  side  when  their  own  term  of  work  was  done. 
Many  a  time  would  they  take  his  pick  from  him,  and  finish 
his  remaining  task,  while  he  sat  on  the  floor  of  the  mine, 
and  gave  them  his  racy  chat  in  return.  On  the  day  in 
question  he  was  apart  from  the  others,  at  the  far  end  of  a 
roadway.  While  there,  an  empty  waggon  came  rumbling 
along  the  rails,  and  stopped  within  a  foot  of  the  edge  of  the 
hole  in  which  his  work  lay.  Had  it  gone  a  few  inches 
farther,  it  would  have  fallen  upon  him,  and  deprived  him 
either  of  limb  or  life.  There  seemed  something  so  thought- 
less in  such  an  act  as  the  pushing  of  a  waggon  upon  him 
that  he  came  up  to  see  which  of  his  fellow- workmen  could 
have  been  guilty  of  it.  But  nobody  was  there.  He  shouted 
along  the  dark  mine ;  but  no  sound  came  back,  save  the 
echo  of  his  own  voice.  That  evening,  when  the  men  had 
gathered  round  the  village  fires,  the  incident  of  the  waggon 
was  matter  of  earnest  talk.  Everybody  scorned  the  imputa- 
tion of  having,  even  in  mere  thoughtlessness,  risked  a  life 
in  the  pit.  Besides,  nobody  had  been  in  that  part  of  the 
workings  except  Brown  himself.  He  fully  acquitted  them, 
having  an  explanation  of  his  own  to  account  for  the  move- 
ments of  the  waggon.  He  had  known  such  things  happen 
before,  he  said,  and  was  persuaded  that  it  could  only  be 
the  devil,  who  seemed  much  more  ready  to  push  along 
empty  hutches,  and  so  endanger  men's  lives,  than  to  give 
any  miner  help  in  pushing  them  when  full. 

In  truth,  this  story  of  the  waggon  came  in  the  end  to 
have  a  significance  little  dreamt  of  at  the  time.  It  proved 
to  have  been  the  first  indication  of  a  "  crush  "  in  the  pit — 
that  is,  a  falling  in  of  the  roof.  The  coal-seam  was  a  thick 
one,  and  in  extracting  it  massive  pillars,  some  sixteen  or 
seventeen  feet  broad  and  forty  to  fifty  feet  long,  were  left 


64  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [iv 

to  keep  the  roof  up.  At  first,  half  of  the  coal  only  was 
taken  out ;  but  after  some  progress  had  been  made  the 
pillars  were  reduced  in  size,  so  as  to  let  a  third  more  of 
the  seam  be  removed.  This,  of  course,  was  a  delicate 
operation,  since  the  desire  to  get  as  much  coal  out  of  the 
mine  as  possible  led  to  the  risk  of  paring  down  the  pillars 
so  far  as  to  make  them  too  weak  for  the  enormous  weight 
they  had  to  bear.  Such  a  failure  of  support  leads  to  a 
"  crush."  The  weakened  pillars  are  crushed  to  fragments, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  floor  of  the  pit,  under  the  enor- 
mous and  unequal  pressure,  is  here  and  there  squeezed  up 
even  to  the  roof.  Such  was  the  disaster  that  now  befell 
the  coal-pit  of  Kilgrammie.  It  had  been  the  earjy  disturb- 
ance of  level  heralding  the  final  catastrophe  that  sent  the 
empty  waggon  along  the  roadway. 

For  a  couple  of  days  cracks  and  grinding  noises  went 
on  continuously  in  the  pit,  the  levels  of  the  rails  got  more 
and  more  altered,  and  though  the  men  remained  at  work, 
it  became  hourly  more  clear  that  part  of  the  workings 
would  now  need  to  be  abandoned.  At  last,  on  the  8th 
October,  the  final  crash  came  suddenly  and  violently.  The 
huge  weight  of  rock  under  which  the  galleries  ran  settled 
down  solidly  on  them  with  a  noise  and  shock  which,  spread- 
ing for  a  mile  or  two  up  and  down  the  quiet  vale  of  the 
Girvan,  were  set  down  at  the  time  as  the  passing  of  an 
earthquake.  Over  the  site  of  the  mine  itself  the  ground 
was  split  open  into  huge  rents  for  a  space  of  several  acres, 
the  dam  of  a  pond  gave  way,  and  the  water  streamed  off, 
while  the  horses  at  the  mouth  of  the  pit  took  fright,  and 
came  scampering,  masterless  and  in  terror,  into  the  little 
village,  the  inhabitants  of  which  rushed  out  of  doors,  and 
were  standing  in  wonderment  as  to  what  had  happened. 

But  the  disasters  above  ground  were  only  a  feeble  indi- 


IV]  THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK.  65 

cation  of  the  terrors  underneath.  Constant  exposure  to 
risk  hardens  a  man  against  an  appreciation  of  his  dangers, 
and  even  makes* him,  it  may  be,  foolhardy.  The  Kil- 
grammie  colliers  had  continued  their  work  with  reckless 
disregard  of  consequences,  until  at  last  the  cry  arose  among 
them  that  the  roof  was  settling  down.  First  they  made  a 
rush  to  the  bottom  of  the  shaft,  in  hopes  of  being  pulled 
up  by  the  engine.  But  by  this  time  the  shaft  had  become 
involved  in  the  ruin  of  the  roof.  A  second  shaft  stood  at 
a  little  distance ;  but  this  too  they  found  to  be  closed. 
Every  avenue  of  escape  cut  off,  and  amid  the  hideous 
groanings  and  grindings  of  the  sinking  ground,  the  colliers 
had  retreated  to  a  part  of  the  workings  where  the  pillars 
yet  stood  firm.  Fortunately  one  of  them  remembered  an 
old  tunnel  or  "  day-level,"  running  from  the  mine  for  more 
than  half  a  mile  to  the  Brunston  Holm,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Girvan,  and  made  originally  to  carry  off  the  underground 
water.  They  were  starting  to  find  the  entrance  to  this 
tunnel  when  they  noticed,  for  the  first  time,  that  John 
Brown  was  not  among  them.  Two  of  the  younger  men 
(one  of  whom  told  me  the  story)  started  back  through  the 
falling  part  of  the  workings,  and  found  the  old  man  at  his 
post,  working  as  unconcernedly  as  if  he  had  been  digging 
potatoes  in  his  own  garden.  With  some  difficulty  they  per- 
suaded him  to  return  with  them,  and  were  in  the  act  of 
hurrying  him  along,  when  he  remembered  that  in  his  haste 
he  had  left  his  jacket  behind.  In  vain  they  tried  to  drag 
him  along.  "  The  jacket  was  a  new  one,"  he  said  ;  "  and 
as  for  the  pit,  he  had  been  at  a  crush  before  now,  and 
would  win  through  it  this  time  too."  So,  with  a  spring 
backwards,  he  tore  himself  away  from  them,  and  dived  into 
the  darkness  of  the  mine  in  search  of  his  valued  garment. 
Hardly,  however,  had  he  parted  from  them  when  the  roof 

F 


66  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [iv 

between  him  and  them  came  down  with  a  crash.  They 
managed  to  rejoin  their  comrades ;  John  Brown  was  sealed 
up  within  the  mine,  most  probably,  as  they  thought,  crushed 
to  death  between  the  ruins  of  the  roof  and  floor. 

Those  who  have  ever  by  any  chance  peeped  into  the 
sombre  mouth  of  the  day-level  of  a  coal-pit  will  realise 
what  the  colliers  had  now  to  do  to  make  good  their  escape. 
The  tunnel  had  been  cut  simply  as  a  drain ;  dark  water 
and  mud  filled  it  almost  to  the  roof.  For  more  than  half 
a  mile  they  had  to  walk,  or  rather  to  crouch  along  in  a 
stooping  posture  through  this  conduit,  the  water  often  up 
to  their  shoulders,  sometimes,  indeed,  with  barely  room  for 
their  heads  to  pass  between  the  surface  of  the  slimy  water 
and  the  rough  roof  above.  But  at  length  they  reached  the 
bright  daylight  as  it  streamed  over  the  green  holms  and 
autumn  woods  of  the  Girvan,  no  man  missing  save  him 
whom  they  had  done  their  best  to  rescue.  They  were  the 
first  to  bring  the  tidings  of  their  escape  to  the  terrified  village. 

No  attempt  could  at  first  be  made  to  save  the  poor 
prisoner.  As  the  colliers  themselves  said,  not  even  a  creel 
or  little  coal-basket  could  get  down  the  crushed  shaft  of  the 
pit.  The  catastrophe  happened  on  a  Wednesday,  and 
when  Sunday  came  the  parish  minister  Dr.  Hill — after- 
wards a  conspicuous  man  in  the  Church  of  Scotland — 
made  it  the  subject  of  a  powerful  appeal  to  his  people.  In 
the  words  of  a  lady,  who  was  then,  and  is  still,  resident  in 
the  neighbourhood,  "  he  made  us  feel  deeply  the  horror  of 
knowing  that  a  human  being  was  living  beneath  our  feet, 
dying  a  most  fearful  death.  On  the  Sunday  following  we 
met  with  the  conviction  that  whatever  the  man's  sufferings 
had  been,  they  were  at  last  over,  and  that  he  had  been  dead 
some  days.  On  the  th'ird  Sunday  the  event  had  begun  to 
pass  away." 


iv]  THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK.  67 

After  the  lapse  of  some  days  the  cracking  and  groaning 
of  the  broken  roof  had  so  far  abated  that  it  became  possible 
once  more  to  get  down  into  the  pit.  The  first  efforts  were, 
of  course,  directed  towards  that  part  of  the  workings  where 
the  body  was  believed  to  be  lying.  But  the  former  road- 
ways were  found  to  be  so  completely  blocked  up  that  no 
approach  to  the  place  could  be  had  save  by  cutting  a  new 
tunnel  through  the  ruins.  This  proved  to  be  a  work  of 
great  labour  and  difficulty  ;  for  not  only  were  the  materials 
extremely  hard  through  which  the  new  passage  must  be  cut, 
but  an  obstacle  of  another  kind  interrupted  the  operations 
— a  dead  body  lay  in  the  pit,  and  awakened  all  the  super- 
stition of  the  colliers.  At  times  they  would  work  well,  but 
their  ears  were  ever  on  the  alert  for  strange  weird  noises, 
and  often  would  they  come  rushing  out  from  the  working 
in  terror  at  the  unearthly  gibberings  which  ever  and  anon 
would  go  soughing  through  the  mine. 

A  fortnight  had  passed  away.  The  lessee,  like  the  rest 
of  the  inhabitants,  believed  poor  Brown  to  be  already  dead, 
and  brought  a  gang  of  colliers  from  another  part  of  the 
county  to  help  in  clearing  out  and  reopening  his  coal-pit. 
But  a  party  of  the  men  continued  at  work  upon  the  tunnel 
that  was  to  lead  to  the  body.  They  cut  through  the  hard 
crushed  roof  a  long  passage,  just  wide  enough  to  let  a  man 
crawl  along  it  upon  his  elbows ;  and  at  last,  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  twenty-third  day  after  the  accident,  they 
struck  through  the  last  part  of  the  ruined  mass  into  the 
open  workings  beyond.  The  rush  of  foul  air  from  these 
workings  put  out  their  lights,  and  compelled  them  to 
retreat.  One  of  their  number  was  despatched  to  upper  air 
for  a  couple  of  boards,  or  corn-sieves,  or  any  broad  flat 
thing  he  could  lay  hands  upon,  with  which  they  might 
advance  into  the  workings,  and  waft  the  air  about,  so  as  tc 


68  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [jv 

mix  it,  and  make  it  more  breathable.  Some  time  had  to 
elapse  before  the  messenger  could  make  the  circuitous 
journey,  and  meanwhile  the  foulness  of  the  air  had 
probably  lessened.  When  the  sieves  came  one  of  the 
miners  agreed  to  advance  into  the  darkness,  and  try  to 
create  a  current  of  air;  the  rest  were  to  follow.  In  a 
minute  or  two,  however  he  rejoined  them,  almost  speech- 
less with  fright.  In  winnowing  the  air  with  his  arms,  he 
had  struck  against  a  waggon  standing  on  the  roadway,  and 
the  noise  he  had  made  was  followed  by  a  distinct  groan. 
A  younger  member  of  the  gang  volunteered  to  return  with 
him.  Advancing  as  before,  the  same  waggon  stopped  them 
as  their  sieves  came  against  the  end  of  it,  and  again  there 
rose  from  out  of  the  darkness  of  the  mine  a  faint  but 
audible  groan.  Could  it  be  the  poor  castaway,  or  was  it 
only  another  wile  of  the  arch  enemy  to  lure  two  colliers 
more  to  their  fate  ?  Gathering  up  all  the  courage  that  was 
left  in  him,  one  of  them  broke  the  awful  silence  of  the 
place  by  solemnly  demanding,  "  If  that's  your  ain  groan, 
John  Brown,  in  the  name  o'  God,  gi'e  anither."  They 
listened,  and  after  the  echoes  of  his  voice  had  ceased  they 
heard  another  groan,  coming  apparently  from  the  roadway 
only  a  few  yards  ahead.  They  crept  forward,  and  found 
their  companion — alive. 

In  a  few  seconds  the  other  colliers,  who  had  been 
anxiously  awaiting  the  result,  were  also  beside  the  body  of 
John  Brown.  They  could  not  see  it,  for  they  had  not 
yet  ventured  to  rekindle  their  lights  ;  but  they  could  feel 
that  it  had  the  death-like  chill  of  a  corpse.  Stripping  off 
their  jackets  and  shirts,  they  lay  with  their  naked  backs 
next  to  him,  trying  to  restore  a  little  warmth  to  his  hardly 
living  frame.  His  first  words,  uttered  in  a  scarcely  audible 
whisper,  were,  "Gi'e  me  a  drink."  Fearful  of  endangering 


iv]  THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK.  6c, 

the  life  which  they  had  been  the  means  of  so  marvellously 
saving,  they  only  complied  so  far  with  his  wish  as  to  dip 
the  sleeve  of  a  coat  in  one  of  the  little  runnels  which  were 
trickling  down  the  walls  of  the  mine,  and  to  moisten  his 
lips  with  it.  He  pushed  it  from  him,  asking  them,  "  no  to 
mak'  a  fule  o'  him."  A  little  water  refreshed  him,  and 
then,  in  the  same  strangely  sepulchral  whisper,  he  said, 
"  Eh,  boys,  but  ye've  been  lang  o'  coming." 

Word  was  now  sent  to  the  outer  world  that  John 
Brown  had  been  found,  and  was  yet  living.  The  lessee 
came  down,  the  doctor  was  sent  for,  and  preparations 
were  made  to  have  the  sufferer  taken  up  to  daylight  again. 
And  here  it  may  be  mentioned  that  upon  the  decayed 
timber  props  and  old  wooden  boardings  of  a  coal-pit  an 
unseemly  growth  of  a  white  and  yellow  fungus  often  takes 
root,  hanging  in  tufts  and  bunches  from  the  sides  or  roofs 
wherever  the  wood  is  decaying.  After  being  cautiously 
pushed  through  the  newly-cut  passage,  John  Brown  was 
placed  on  the  lessee's  knees  on  the  cage  in  which  they 
were  to  be  pulled  up  by  the  engine.  As  they  rose  into 
daylight,  a  sight  which  had  only  been  faintly  visible  in  the 
feeble  lamplight  below  presented  itself,  never  seen  before 
and  never  to  be  forgotten.  That  coal-mine  fungus  had 
spread  over  the  poor  collier's  body  as  it  would  have  done 
over  a  rotting  log.  His  beard  had  grown  bristly  during 
his  confinement,  and  all  through  the  hairs  this  white  fungus 
had  taken  root.  His  master,  as  the  approaching  daylight 
made  the  growth  more  visible,  began  to  pull  off  the  fungus 
threads,  but  (as  he  told  me  himself)  his  hand  was  pushed 
aside  by  John,  who  asked  him,  "  Na,  noo,  wad  ye  kittle 
[tickle]  me  ?  " 

By  nine  o'clock  on  that  Friday  morning,  three-and- 
twenty  days  after  he  had  walked  out  of  his  cottage  for  the 


70  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [IY 

last  time,  John  Brown  was  once  more  resting  on  his  own 
bed.  A  more  ghastly  figure  could  hardly  be  pictured.  His 
face  had  not  the  pallor  of  a  fainting  fit  or  of  death,  but 
wore  a  strange  sallow  hue  like  that  of  a  mummy.  His 
flesh  seemed  entirely  gone,  nothing  left  but  the  bones, 
under  a  thin  covering  of  leather-like  skin.  This  was 
specially  marked  about  his  face,  where,  in  spite  of  the 
growth  of  hair,  every  bone  looked  as  if  it  were  coming  through 
the  skin,  and  his  eyes,  brightened  into  unnatural  lustre, 
were  sunk  far  into  his  skull.  The  late  Dr.  Sloan,  of  Ayr, 
who  visited  him,  told  me  that  to  such  a  degree  was  the 
body  wasted  that,  in  putting  the  hand  over  the  pit  of  the 
stomach,  one  could  distinctly  feel  the  inner  surface  of  the 
backbone.  Every  atom  of  fatty  matter  in  the  body  seems 
to  have  been  consumed. 

Light  food  was  sparingly  administered,  and  he  appeared 
to  revive,  and  would  insist  on  being  allowed  to  speak  and 
tell  of  his  experiences  in  the  pit.  He  had  no  food  with 
him  all  the  time  of  his  confinement.  Once  before,  when 
locked  up  underground  by  a  similar  accident,  he  had 
drunk  the  oil  from  his  lamp  and  had  thereby  sickened 
himself;  so  that  this  time,  though  he  had  both  oil  and 
tobacco  with  him,  he  had  tasted  neither.  For  some  days 
he  was  able  to  walk  about  in  the  open  uncrushed  part  of 
the  mine,  where  too  he  succeeded  in  supplying  himself  with 
water  to  drink.  But  in  the  end,  as  he  grew  weaker,  he 
had  stumbled  across  the  roadway  and  fallen  into  the 
position  in  which  he  was  found.  The  trickle  of  water  ran 
down  the  mine  close  to  him,  and  was  for  a  time  the  only 
sound  he  could  hear,  but  he  could  not  reach  it.  When 
asked  if  he  had  not  despaired  of  ever  being  restored  to  the 
upper  air,  he  assured  his  questioners  that  he  had  never  for 
a  moment  lost  the  belief  that  he  would  be  rescued.  He 


iv]  THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK.  71 

had  heard  them  working  towards  him,  and  from  the  intervals 
of  silence  and  sound  he  was  able,  after  a  fashion,  to  measure 
the  passing  of  time.  It  would  seem,  too,  that  he  had  been 
subject  either  to  vivid  dreams  or  to  a  wandering  of  the  mind 
when  awake,  for  again  and  again  he  thanked  the  sister  of 
his  master  for  her  great  kindness  in  visiting  him  in  the  pit 
and  cheering  him  up  as  she  did. 

On  the  Sunday  afternoon,  when  some  of  his  old 
comrades  were  sitting  round  the  bedside,  he  turned  to 
them  with  an  anxious  puzzled  look  and  said,  "Ah,  boys, 
when  I  win  through  this,  I've  a  queer  story  to  tell  ye." 
But  that  was  not  to  be.  His  constitution  had  received 
such  a  shake  as  even  its  uncommon  strength  could  not 
overcome.  That  evening  it  became  only  too  plain  that 
the  apparent  recovery  of  appetite  and  spirits  had  been  but 
the  last  flicker  of  the  lamp  of  life.  Later  in  the  night  he 
died. 

So  strange  a  tragedy  made  a  deep  impression  on  the 
people  of  that  sequestered  district.  Everybody  who  could 
made  his  way  into  the  little  cottage  to  see  a  man  who,  as 
it  were,  had  risen  from  the  dead  ;  and  no  doubt  this  natural 
craving  led  to  an  amount  of  noise  and  excitement  in  the 
room  by  no  means  very  favourable  to  the  recovery  of  the 
sufferer.  But  this  was  not  all.  A  new  impetus  was  given 
to  the  fading  superstitions  of  the  colliery  population.  Not 
a  few  of  his  old  workfellows,  though  they  saw  him  in  bodily 
presence  lying  in  his  own  bed  and  chatting  as  he  used  to 
do,  nay,  even  though  they  followed  him  to  the  grave,  re- 
fused to  believe  that  what  they  saw  was  John  Brown's  body 
at  all,  or  at  least  that  it  was  his  soul  which  animated  it. 
They  had  seen  so  many  wiles  of  the  devil  below  ground, 
and  had  so  often  narrowly  escaped  with  their  lives  from  his 
treachery,  that  they  shrewdly  suspected  this  to  be  some 


72  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [iv 

new  snare  of  his  for  the  purpose  of  entrapping  and  carrying 
off  some  of  their  number. 

A  post-mortem  examination  followed.  But  even  that 
sad  evidence  of  mortality  failed  to  convince  some  of  the 
more  stubbornly  superstitious.  The  late  Dr.  Sloan,  who 
took  part  in  the  examination,  told  me  that  after  it  was  over, 
and  when  he  emerged  from  the  little  cottage,  a  group  of 
old  colliers  who  had  been  patiently  waiting  the  result  out- 
side came  up  to  him  with  the  inquiry,  "  Doctor,  did  ye  fin' 
his  feet  ?  "  It  certainly  had  not  occurred  to  him  to  make 
any  special  investigation  of  the  extremities,  and  he  confessed 
that  he  had  not,  though  surprised  at  the  oddity  of  the 
question.  He  inquired  in  turn  why  they  should  have 
wished  the  feet  particularly  looked  to.  A  grave  shake  of 
the  head  was  the  only  reply  he  could  get  at  the  time  ;  but 
he  soon  found  out  that  had  he  examined  the  feet,  he  would 
have  found  them  not  to  be  human  extremities  at  all,  but 
bearing  that  cloven  character  which  Scottish  tradition  has 
steadily  held  to  be  one  of  the  characteristic  and  inefface- 
able features  of  the  "  deil,"  no  matter  under  what  disguise 
he  may  be  pleased  to  appear. 

And  even  when  the  grave  had  closed  over  the  wasted 
remains  of  the  poor  sufferer,  people  were  still  seeing  visions 
and  getting  warnings.  His  ghost  haunted  the  place  for  a 
time,  until  at  last*  the  erection  of  a  tombstone  by  the  parish- 
ioners with  the  inscription  already  quoted,  written  by  the 
parish  minister,  slowly  brought  conviction  to  the  minds  of 
the  incredulous.  Many  a  story,  however,  still  lingers  of 
the  kind  of  sights  and  sounds  seen  as  portents  after  this 
sad  tragedy.  I  shall  give  only  one,  told  to  me  by  an  old 
collier,  whose  grandmother  was  a  well- known  witch,  and 
who  himself  retained '  evidently  more  belief  in  her  powers 
than  he  cared  to  acknowledge  in  words.  Not  long  after 


iv]  THE  COLLIERS  OF  CARRICK.  73 

John  Brown's  death,  one  of  the  miners  returned  un- 
expectedly from  his  work  in  the  forenoon,  and  to  the  sur- 
prise of  his  wife  appeared  in  front  of  their  cottage.  She 
was  in  the  habit,  unknown  to  him,  of  solacing  herself  in 
the  early  part  of  the  day  with  a  bottle  of  porter.  On  the 
occasion  in  question  the  bottle  stood  toasting  pleasantly 
before  the  fire  when  the  form  of  the  "gudeman"  came  in 
sight.  In  a  moment  she  had  driven  in  the  cork  and  thrust 
the  bottle  underneath  the  blankets  of  the  box-bed,  when  he 
entered,  and,  seating  himself  by  the  fire,  began  to  light  his 
pipe.  In  a  little  while  the  warmed  porter  managed  to 
expel  the  cork,  and  to  escape  in  a  series  of  very  ominous 
guggles  from  underneath  the  clothes.  The  poor  fellow 
was  outside  in  an  instant,  crying,  "  Anither  warning,  Meg  ! 
Rin,  rin,  the  house  is  fa'ing."  But  Meg  "  kenn'd  what 
was  what  fu'  brawly,"  and  made  for  the  bed  in  time  to  save 
only  the  last  dregs  of  her  intended  potation. 

Most  of  the  actors  in  the  sad  story  have  passed  away, 
and  now  rest  beneath  the  same  green  sod  which  covers  the 
remains  of  John  Brown.  With  the  last  generation,  too,  has 
died  out  much  of  the  hereditary  superstition.  For  a  rail- 
way now  runs  through  the  coal-field.  Strangers  come  and 
settle  in  the  district.  An  increasing  Irish  element  appears 
in  the  population,  and  thus  the  old  manners  and  customs 
are  rapidly  becoming  mere  traditions  in  the  place.  Even 
grandsons  and  great-grandsons  of  the  old  women  who 
"  kept  the  country-side  in  fear,"  affect  to  hold  lightly  the 
powers  and  doings  of  their  progenitors,  though  there  are 
still  a  few  who,  while  seemingly  half- ashamed  to  claim 
supernatural  power  for  their  "  grannies,"  gravely  assert  that 
the  latter  had  means  of  finding  things  out,  and,  though 
bedridden,  of  getting  their  wishes  fulfilled,  which,  to  say 
the  least,  were  very  inexplicable. 


74  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 


V, 

AMONG  THE  VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL 
FRANCE.1 

IT  had  been  my  good  fortune  to  spend  several  years  in  a 
more  or  less  continuous  examination  of  those  volcanic  hills 
and  crags  which  form .  so  characteristic  a  feature  in  the 
scenery  of  the  great  central  valley  of  Scotland.  I  had 
traced  them  over  many  hundreds  of  square  miles,  sometimes 
underneath  the  very  streets  and  squares  of  a  town,  some- 
times across  richly -cultivated  fields,  and  sometimes  far 
inland  among  lonely  moors  and  mosses.  I  had  studied 
their  association  with  the  stratified  rocks  of  that  old  era  of 
this  country's  history  known  as  the  Carboniferous  Period ; 
I  had  thus  been  enabled,  in  some  measure,  to  realise  the 
scenery  of  that  ancient  time — its  wide  jungles  and  lagoons, 
crowded  with  graceful  trees,  and  dotted  here  and  there  with 
dark  pine-clothed  volcanic  cones  that  sent  out  their  columns 
of  steam  and  showers  of  ashes,  or  rolled  their  streams  of 
lava  into  the  shallow  waters.  My  restorations  of  the  Car- 
boniferous landscapes,  however,  could  not  but  be  incomplete 
and  unsatisfactory.  They  wanted  spirit  and  life,  even  more 
than  the  plaster  model  of  some  extinct  monster  constructed 
from  the  hints  that  may  be  suggested  by  a  tooth  and  a  fe\v 
bones.  They  needed  comparison  with  some  region  of 
1  Vacation  Tourists  and  Notes  of  Travel  in  1861,  Macmillan  and  Co. 


v]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       75 

recent  volcanoes,  where,  like  the  dry  bones  in  the  field  of 
old,  they  might  straightway  be  touched  into  life. 

As  the  Scottish  volcanoes  had  been  of  small  extent,  as 
well  as  eminently  sporadic  in  their  distribution,  it  seemed 
to  promise  more  success  to  compare  them  with  a  district 
where  similar  local  phenomena  had  been  manifested,  than 
with  such  regions  as  those  of  Etna  or  Vesuvius,  where  the 
eruptions  had  been  on  a  larger  scale,  and  had  proceeded 
from  the  different  vents  of  one  great  volcano.  There  were 
two  districts  in  Europe  that  appeared  likely  to  throw  light 
on  the  subject — one  of  these  lay  in  the  Eifel,  the  other  in 
the  high  grounds  of  Auvergne  and  the  Haute-Loire.  The 
latter  covers  a  much  greater  area  than  the  German  tract, 
and  presents  besides  a  more  extensive  variety  of  volcanic 
phenomena.  It  had  been  described  in  detail  in  the  admir- 
able volume  of  Mr.  Poulett  Scrope,  as  well  as  in  several 
other  works  and  memoirs  by  able  geologists  in  France  and 
England.  These  writings  did  not,  indeed,  treat  the  geo- 
logical structure  of  the  country  from  the  particular  point  of 
view  which  chiefly  interested  me  at  the  time,  but  they 
formed  an  invaluable  guide  to  one  who  wished  to  acquire 
as  rapidly  as  possible  a  general  knowledge  of  the  region. 
So  it  was  resolved  by  an  old  comrade  and  myself  to  go  to 
Auvergne,  and  enlarge  our  ideas  in  one  department  of 
British  geology.  Between  two  countries  once  so  closely 
linked  together  in  peace  and  war,  it  seemed  as  if  there 
might  be  another  relationship  than  that  of  mere  State 
policy  \  and  so  with  some  such  fanciful  notion  we  set  out 
to  see  how  far  we  could  succeed  in  establishing  a  geological 
connection  between  Central  Scotland  and  Central  France. 

Not  many  years  ago  it  was  a  matter  of  no  little  discom- 
fort to  reach  the  high  grounds  of  the  Puy  de  Dome  and  the 
other  departments  in  the  interior  of  France.  Several  days 


76  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

of  diligence  travelling,  and  inns  none  of  the  best,  were 
hindrances  seldom  surmounted  save  by  enthusiastic  geolo- 
gists, or  by  valetudinarians  who  risked  all  peril  to  spend  a 
few  weeks  at  the  Baths  of  Mont  Dore.  Now,  however, 
this  state  of  things  has  changed.  Railways  penetrate  far 
into  the  upland  districts,  and  although  this  part  of  France 
is  still  comparatively  little  known  to  English  tourists,  it  can 
be  visited  with  even  more  ease,  and  in  a  shorter  time,  than 
the  remoter  parts  of  Scotland.  Dining  on  a  summer  even- 
ing in  London,  one  may  take  one's  seat  in  the  Dover  express 
about  nine  o'clock,  and  next  evening  at  the  "same  hour  may 
see  the  sun  set  behind  the  long  chain  of  puys  that  dot  the 
granitic  plateau  of  Auvergne.  The  journey  from  Paris 
southward,  indeed,  is  a  dreary  and  monotonous  one,  even 
if  you  make  it  at  the  rate  of  thirty -five  or  forty  miles  an 
hour.  Wide  uninteresting  plains  occupy  hundreds  of 
square  miles,  and  it  is  not  until  towards  the  close  of  the 
day,  as  you  approach  the  department  of  Allier,  that  the 
ground  begins  to  undulate,  amid  hedgerows  of  acacias  and 
patches  of  woodland.  From  the  quaint  old  town  of  Moulins 
the  scenery  becomes  hourly  more  interesting.  A  vast,  richly- 
cultivated  plain,  several  miles  broad,  and  known  as  the 
Limagne  d'Auvergne,  widens  out  southward  and  stretches 
as  far  in  that  direction  as  the  eye  can  reach.  On  the  east 
lies  the  chain  of  granite  hills  which  separates  the  plain  of 
the  Allier  from  the  basin  of  the  Loire,  while  to  the  west  the 
eye  rests  with  increasing  wonder  upon  a  long  line  of  conical 
hills,  sometimes  bare  and  gray,  sometimes  dark  with  foliage, 
and  grouped  like  a  series  of  colossal  forts  and  earthworks 
along  the  summit  of  a  long  ridge.  Beyond  these,  and 
seemingly  rising  out  of  them,  towers  the  grand  cone  of  the 
Puy  de  Dome,  now  flushed,  perhaps,  with  the  last  rays  of 
the  sinking  sun.  As  the  train  advances  southward  these 


v]  VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.  77 

cones  become  still  more  defined,  standing  up  dark  and  clear 
against  the  evening  sky,  until,  halting  at  last  at  Clermont 
we  seem  to  rest  almost  at  the  feet  of  the  giant  Puy. 

The  ancient  province  of  Auvergne— now  parcelled  out 
into  the  departments  of  Cantal,  Puy  de  Dome,  and  Haute- 
Loire — comprises  a  considerable  part  of  the  high  ground 
in  Central  France,  and  from  the  variety  of  its  geological 
structure  contains  a  diversity  of  outline  that  contrasts  well 
with  the  monotonous  scenery  of  so  much  of  the  lower  parts 
of  the  country.  Granite  and  other  crystalline  rocks  rise 
from  under  encircling  plains  of  Secondary  and  Tertiary 
strata,  and  form  an  elevated  tableland  in  the  central  districts, 
through  which  run  the  valleys  of  the  Loire,  the  Allier,  the 
Dore,  the  Sioule,  and  other  minor  rivers. 

At  a  comparatively  recent  geological  period  there  were 
some  large  lakes  in  these  uplands,  one  of  them  extending 
over  the  modern  Limagne  d' Auvergne  in  a  north  and  south 
direction,  between  granitic  hills,  for  a  distance  of  fully  forty  _ 
miles,  and  with  a  breadth  of  sometimes  twenty.  But  the 
lakes  have  long  since  disappeared,  though  their  site  is  still 
marked  by  broad  plains  formed  of  lacustrine  strata,  often 
composed  of  the  remains  of  the  shells  that  lived  in  these 
inland  waters.  It  was  in  this  region  of  high  ground,  among 
hills  of  granite,  gneiss,  and  schist,  watered  by  large  rivers 
and  by  broad  lakes,  that  those  volcanic  eruptions  broke 
forth,  to  some  of  whose  features  it  is  the  object  of  the 
present  paper  to  direct  attention.  To  such  protrusions  of 
igneous  matter  the  great  altitude  of  some  parts  of  the 
district  is  due.  Lava  and  ashes  have  been  thrown  out 
upon  the  granitic  hills,  so  as  to  rise  even  into  great  moun- 
tains, where,  as  in  the  higher  and  deeper  recesses  of  Mont 
Dore,  snow  may  be  seen  gleaming  white  among  the  crags 
under  the  glare  of  a  July  sun. 


78  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

The  easiest  point  from  which  to  begin  the  examination 
of  this  region  is  probably  Clermont,  the  chief  town  of  the 
department  of  Puy  de  Dome.  Built  round  a  small  hill  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Limagne,  where  that  broad  valley 
attains  its  greatest  width,  Clermont  rises  conspicuously 
above  the  general  level  of  the  plain  (which  is  about  1200 
feet  above  the  sea-level),  and  seems  to  nestle  at  the  base 
of  the  long  granitic  ridge  that  supports  the  chain  of  Puys. 
The  hill  on  which  the  town  is  placed  is  of  volcanic  origin, 
so  too  are  similar  gentle  eminences  that  rise  above  the  level 
country  towards  the  east ;  north  and  south,  at  the  distance 
of  a  mile  or  two,  are  remnants  of  ancient  lava-beds,  now 
forming  flat-topped  hills ;  while  to  the  west,  down  some  of 
the  narrow  gullies  that  descend  through  the  granitic  ridge, 
currents  of  lava  have  forced  their  way  from  the  volcanic 
vents  of  the  Puys  almost  to  the  very  site  of  the  town. 
Here,  then,  the  traveller  may  rest  for  a  while,  with  plenty 
of  geological  interest  around  him  if  he  care  to  ply  his 
hammer,  and  with  not  less  of  varied  and  curious  scenery  if 
he  be  only  in  search  of  the  novel  and  picturesque.  Let 
no  man,  however,  whether  geologist  or  not,  visit  Auvergne 
in  July,  unless  fully  prepared  to  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry, 
with  the  thermometer  at  82°  or  more  in  the  shade. 

Our  first  geological  ramble  was  begun  soon  after  sun- 
rise. Passing  through  a  labyrinth  of  lanes  and  byways,  we 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  base  of  the  hills,  and  began  to 
wind  upwards  among  the  vineyards  that  cluster  along  the 
slopes  and  look  down  upon  the  rich  plain  of  the  Limagne. 
It  was  a  glorious  morning.  A  light  mist  hung  over  the 
valley,  concealing  its  features  as  completely  as  if  the  lake 
which  once  filled  it  (had  been  again  restored ;  while  some 
twenty  miles  to  the  eastward,  on  the  farther  side  of  this 
sheet  of  phantom  water,  rose  the  purple  hills  of  the  Forez 


v]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       79 

that  separate  the  basins  of  the  Allier  and  the  Loire.  Behind 
us,  as  we  looked  across  the  plain,  lay  the  great  granitic 
ridge  or  plateau,  rising  to  a  height  of  somewhere  about 
1600  feet  above  the  plain,  and  nearly  3000  feet  above  the 
sea.  Its  base,  up  which  we  were  slowly  ascending,  had  a 
varied  mantle  of  cornfields  and  vineyards ;  narrow,  well- 
wooded  valleys  had  been  cut  by  streamlets  down  its  flanks, 
but  the  higher  slopes  became  barer  by  degrees  as  they 
approached  the  range  of  volcanic  cones  that  crowns  the 
summit  of  the  ridge.  It  was  with  no  slight  interest  that, 
among  the  little  runnels  and  cart-tracks  which  were  crossed 
in  the  ascent,  we  watched  for  indications  of  the  nature  of 
the  rocks  below.  Sometimes  a  chalky  lacustrine  marl  was 
noticed ;  and,  as  we  drew  nearer  to  the  granite,  we  found 
ourselves  upon  pebbly  sandstone  that  had  evidently  been 
formed  out  of  the  waste  of  the  granite  hills.  But  how 
could  the  formation  of  such  a  deposit  have  been  effected 
here  ?  Foot  by  foot  as  we  crept  up  the  acclivity  this  sand- 
stone accompanied  us,  until  at  last,  at  a  height  of  probably 
not  less  than  a  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  plain, 
we  reached  the  granite.  The  gravel  and  sand,  out  of  which 
this  sandstone  had  been  made,  must  have  been  deposited 
in  a  lake — the  old  lake,  in  short,  which  once  occupied  the 
site  of  the  Limagne.  The  water  must  therefore  have 
reached  up  as  far  as  to  the  point  to  which  we  had  traced 
the  sandstone  ;  and  thus,  in  the  course  of  an  hour's  ramble, 
we  ascertained  for  ourselves  the  somewhat  startling  fact, 
that  unless  later  subterranean  movements  had  altered  the 
relative  levels,  the  fertile  plain  below  was  formerly  covered 
by  a  lake  at  least  a  thousand  feet  deep.  Once  on  the 
granite  we  were  free  from  the  entanglements  of  enclosures 
and  fences.  As  this  rock  crumbles  away  with  rapidity,  its 
surface  is  smooth,  without  those  rugged  features  which 


8o  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

mark  the  surrounding  basaltic  rocks.  It  is  coated  with  a 
short  scrubby  grass,  save  in  those  places  where  the  amount 
of  waste  is  too  great  and  rapid  to  allow  the  vegetation  to 
take  root.  Crossing  a  short  interval  of  this  ground,  at  the 
height  of  about  2400  feet  above  the  sea,  we  arrived  at  the 
basalt  that  caps  the  ridge  of  Pradelle. 

From  this  height  we  commanded  a  wide  view  of  the 
Limagne,  from  which  the  morning  sun  had  now  dispelled 
the  floating  mists ;  we  could  judge  better  of  the  disposition 
of  the  volcanic  cones,  or  puys,  and  of  the  aspect  of  some 
of  the  basaltic  plateaux  and  lava-streams.  But  the  most 
impressive  part  of  the  scene  was  not  in  the  traces  of  old 
igneous  eruptions,  but  in  the  evidence  of  the  power  of  run- 
ning water.  I  had  wandered  long  among  the  basalt  hills  of 
the  Hebrides,  and  now  recognised  the  repetition  of  many 
features  of  their  landscapes ;  but  nothing  I  had  seen  or 
read  of  had  prepared  me  for  such  a  stupendous  manifesta- 
tion of  the  power  of  rain  and  rivers.  No  one,  indeed, 
whose  observations  have  been  confined  to  a  country  which 
has  been  above  the  sea  only  since  the  glacial  period,  or  the 
contours  of  which  have  been  smoothed  over  by  the  ice- 
sheets  of  that  time,  can  readily  form  an  adequate  idea  of 
the  denuding  effect  of  water  flowing  over  the  surface  of  the 
land.  Standing  on  the  plateau  of  Pradelle,  with  its  rem- 
nant of  a  lava-current,  and  looking  down  into  the  valley  of 
Villar — a  deep  gorge,  excavated  by  a  rivulet  through  that 
lava-current,  and  partially  choked  up  by  a  later  coulee  of 
lava  which  the  stream  is  now  wearing  away — I  received  a 
kind  of  new  revelation,  so  utterly  above  and  beyond  all  my 
previous  conceptions  was  the  impression  which  the  sight  of 
this  landscape  now  cqnveyed.  The  ridge  of  Pradelle  is  a 
narrow  promontory  of  granite,  extending  eastward  from  the 
main  granitic  chain,  and  cut  down  on  either  side,  but  more 


V]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.        81 

especially  to  the  south,  by  a  deep  ravine.  It  is  capped 
with  a  cake  of  columnar  basalt,  which  of  course  was  once 
in  a  melted  state,  and,  like  all  lava-streams,  rolled  along 
the  ground  ever  seeking  its  lowest  levels.  A  first  glance  is 
enough  to  convince  us  that  this  basaltic  cake  is  a  mere 
fragment,  that  its  eastern  and  southern  edges  have  been 
largely  cut  away,  and  that  it  once  extended  southwards 
across  what  is  now  the  deep  gorge  of  Villar.  Since  the 
eruption  of  the  basalt,  therefore,  the  whole  of  this  gorge 
has  been  excavated.  But  what  agent  could  have  worked 
so  mighty  a  change  ?  We  bethink  us,  perhaps,  of  the  sea  ; 
and  picture  the  breakers  working  their  way  steadily  inland 
through  the  softer  granite.  But  this  supposition  is  unten- 
able, for  it  can  be  shown  on  good  grounds  that,  since  the 
volcanic  eruptions  of  this  district  began,  the  country  has 
never  been  below  the  sea.  It  is  with  a  feeling  almost  of 
reluctance  that  we  are  compelled  to  admit,  in  default  of 
any  other  possible  explanation,  that  the  erosion  of  the  valley 
has  been  the  work  of  the  stream  that  seems  to  run  in  a 
mere  rut  at  the  foot  of  the  slopes.  How  tardy  must  be 
the  working  of  such  an  agent,  and  how  immeasurably  far 
into  the  past  does  the  contemplation  of  such  an  operation 
carry  us !  This  illustration  of  the  power  of  running  water, 
however,  though  the  first,  was  by  no  means  the  most 
striking  which  occurred  in  the  course  of  my  rambles  in 
Auvergne.  The  same  fact  stood  out  with  a  kind  of  oppres- 
sive reality  in  the  Haute-Loire,  to  which  reference  will  be 
made  on  a  subsequent  page. 

The  basalt  of  Pradelle  recalled  many  of  the  basaltic 
hills  in  various  parts  of  Scotland.  I  could  have  supposed 
myself  under  one  of  the  cliffs  that  look  out  upon  the  deep 
fjords  of  Skye,  or  below  the  range  of  crags  on  the  shores  of 
the  Forth,  over  which  Alexander  III.  lost  his  life,  or  even 

G 


82  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

among  some  of  the  ridges  that  form  the  eastern  part  ol 
Arthur's  Seat,  at  Edinburgh.  The  French  basalt  had, 
indeed,  a  grayer  colour  and  a  finely  cavernous  structure, 
which  distinguished  it  from  the  hard  black  compact  rock 
which  is  known  as  basalt  in  Scotland :  but  they  were 
columned  both  in  the  same  way,  traversed  by  similar  trans- 
verse joints,  and,  above  all,  resembled  each  other  in  their 
mode  of  yielding  to  the  weather,  and  in  their  general  aspect 
in  the  landscape. 

Quitting  this  ridge,  and  walking  westwards  towards  the 
Puy  de  Dome,  we  reached  the  hostelry  of  Bonabry,  where 
the  road  splits  into  two,  one  branch  crossing  the  hilly 
ground  for  Pont  Gibaud,  the  other  turning  south-west  for 
Mont  Dore.  Here,  finding  the  morning  too  far  advanced 
for  further  breakfastless  exploration,  we  struck  down  for  the 
valley  of  Villar,  with  the  view  of  examining  more  narrowly 
a  later  current  of  lava  in  the  bottom  of  the  ravine —  a  barren 
expanse  of  black  rugged  scoriae  rising  into  the  most  fantastic 
forms,  and  nearly  destitute  of  vegetation.  This  lava-current 
must  be  greatly  more  recent  than  that  of  PradeUe,  for  it 
has  been  erupted  after  the  excavation  of  the  valley.  Few 
walks  in  Auvergne  are  in  their  way  more  instructive  than 
this.  The  valley  itself,  with  its  impressive  lesson  of  river- 
action,  becomes  still  more  striking  when  seen  from  below. 
The  Pradelle  basalt  hanging  over  the  ravine  stands  as  a 
silent  witness  at  once  of  the  antiquity  of  the  earlier  volcanic 
eruptions  and  of  the  changes  of  after  time.  The  great 
river  of  younger  lava  below,  too,  is  an  object  of  unceasing 
interest  to  a  geological  eye,  winding  as  it  does  with  all  the 
curvings  of  the  valley,  now  sinking  down  beneath  a  mass 
of  tangled  copsewood,  and  now  rising  up  into  black  craggy 
masses,  where  some  projecting  boss  of  granite  had  formed 
a  temporary  impediment  to  its  course.  The  rivulet  has 


v]      VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       83 

actually  cut  in  places  a  second  narrow  gorge  through  the 
lava,  sometimes  of  considerable  depth.  But  part  of  the 
stream  still  appears  to  flow  down  the  old  channel  beneath 
the  lava  by  which  that  channel  has  been  usurped,  for  at 
the  abrupt  termination  of  the  lava-current  an  abundant  gush 
of  water  issues  from  under  the  black  rugged  crags. 

In  the  town  of  Clermont  itself  there  is  not  much  of 
interest.  It  is  built  round  the  sides  of  a  gently-sloping  hill, 
and  thus  the  towers  of  the  old  church,  rising  to  a  consider- 
able height  above  the  surrounding  plain,  can  be  seen  from 
a  great  distance.  This  church,  like  most  of  the  rest  of  the 
town,  is  built  of  a  dark,  compact  lava,  that  gives  a  some- 
what sombre  hue  to  the  building.  The  same  tone  of 
colouring  would  also  characterise  the  street  architecture, 
but  for  a  plentiful  use  of  whitewash.  One  cannot  but 
admire  the  sharpness  with  which  this  lava  has  retained  for 
centuries  its  chisel-marks  and  sculpturings ;  even  staircases, 
that  have  been  trodden  so  long  day  after  day,  seem  well- 
nigh  as  fresh  as  ever.  So  black  and  dingy,  indeed,  and 
so  sharp  in  outline,  are  some  of  the  tall  pillars,  that  they 
might  readily  be  mistaken  for  so  many  shafts  of  cast-iron. 
Along  the  roadsides,  too,  you  constantly  pass  crosses  made 
of  the  same  material — black,  sombre  things,  rising  some- 
times from  the  edge  of  a  vineyard,  sometimes  standing  up 
alone  in  a  solitary  part  of  the  way,  among  broken  walls  and 
thickets  of  brushwood.  It  was  not  uninteresting  to  re- 
member that  some  three  hundred  years  ago  the  roadsides 
at  home  were  studded  with  similar  crosses,  of  which  the 
pedestals  and  parts  of  the  stems  may  still,  here  and  there, 
be  seen ;  and  that  these  were  in  many  cases  made  of  an 
old  lava,  just  as  in  Auvergne.  The  Scottish  rock,  however, 
had  been  erupted  many  a  long  geological  period  ere  the 
Auvergne  volcanoes  broke  forth ;  and  though  the  crosses 


84  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  0 

hewn  out  of  it  may  not  have  dated  further  back  than  some 
of  these  French  ones,  yet  Nature  has  dealt  kindlier  with 
them,  crusting  them  over  with  lichen  and  moss,  and  mak- 
ing them  look  as  crumbling  and  venerable  as  the  crags 
and  hillsides  that  rise  around  them.  The  Auvergne  lava, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  a  singularly  barren  stone ;  it  gives 
no  harbourage  to  vegetation,  and  its  chiselled  surfaces 
stand  up  now  as  bare  and  blank  as  they  have  done  for 
centuries. 

No  one  should  leave  Clermont  without  looking  at  the 
baths  of  Saint  Alyre.  A  spring,  highly  charged  with  car- 
bonate of  lime,  issues  from  the  side  of  the  hill  of  Clermont, 
and  deposits  along  its  course  a  constantly-increasing  mass 
of  white  travertin.  In  this  way  it  has  formed  for  itself  a 
natural  aqueduct,  running  for  a  considerable  distance,  and 
terminating  in  a  rude  but  picturesque  arch  of  the  same 
material,  below  which  flows  a  small  stream.  The  water 
that  trickles  over  this  bridge  evaporates,  and  leaves  behind 
a  thin  pellicle  of  carbonate  of  lime,  which  gathers  into 
rugged  masses,  or  hangs  down  in  long  stone  icicles  01 
stalactites.  Such  a  fontaine  petrifiante  could  not  remain  a 
mere  curiosity  :  it  has  been  turned  into  a  source  of  con- 
siderable profit,  and  manufactures  for  the  visitors  an  end- 
less stock  of  brooches,  casts,  alto-relievoes,  basso-relievoes, 
baskets,  birds'  nests,  groups  of  flowers,  leaves,  fruit,  and 
suchlike.  A  portion  of  the  water  is  diverted  into  a  series 
of  sheds,  where  it  is  made  to  run  over  flights  of  narrow 
steps,  on  which  are  placed  the  objects  to  be  "  petrified." 
By  varying  the  position  of  these  objects,  and  removing 
them  farther  and  farther  from  the  first  dash  of  the  water, 
they  become  uniformly  coated  over  with  a  fine  hard  crust 
of  white  carbonate  of  lime,  which  retains  all  the  inequali- 
ties of  the  surface  on  which  it  is  deposited.  There  is  here, 


v]      VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       85 

of  course,  no  real  petrification ;  the  substances  operated 
upon  retain  all  their  original  structure,  and  are  only  in- 
crusted  with  the  calcareous  sediment.  When  once  covered 
with  this  stony  crust,  they  may  remain  unchanged  for  a 
long  period,  being  thus  hermetically  sealed  and  protected 
from  the  influences  of  the  air. 

Let  the  reader  suppose  himself  on  the  top  of  the  Puy 
de  Dome,  4842  feet  above  the  sea-level.  Seated  on  the 
greensward  which  covers  that  elevated  cone,  he  has  the 
volcanic  district  spread  out  as  in  a  map  below  him — cones, 
craters,  and  lava-currents — clear  and  distinct  for  many  miles 
to  the  north  and  south.  The  Puy  de  Dome,  placed  about 
midway  between  the  northern  and  southern  ends  of  the 
chain  of  the  Puys,  rises  out  of  the  centre  of  the  long 
granitic  ridge  or  plateau  on  the  western  edge  of  the  valley 
of  the  Allier.  Its  position,  therefore,  is  eminently  favour- 
able for  obtaining  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  country.  Below 
us,  to  the  eastward,  lies  the  broad  plain  of  the  Limagne 
like  a  vast  garden,  dotted  here  and  there  with  hamlets  and 
villages  and  towns.  Yonder,  for  instance,  are  the  sloping 
streets  of  Clermont,  with  their  dingy  red-tiled  houses,  and 
the  sombre  spires  of  the  old  church ;  farther  eastward  is 
Montferrand,  and  others  of  lesser  note  lie  in  the  district 
beyond.  The  eastern  horizon  is  bounded  by  the  range  of 
the  granitic  hills  of  the  Forez,  which  have  been  already 
referred  to  as  rising  from  the  level  of  the  Limagne  on  the 
one  side,  and  descending  into  the  basin  of  the  Loire  on 
the  other.  They  look  gray  and  parched  in  the  glare  of  the 
summer  afternoon,  though  softened  a  little  by  the  purple 
light  of  distance,  till  their  base  seems  to  melt  into  the 
subdued  verdure  of  the  valley.  Westward,  the  eye  wanders 
over  a  dreary  region  of  broken  and  barren  ground  which 
stretches  far  to  the  north,  while  southward,  some  fifteen  or 


86  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

twenty  miles  away,  it  sweeps  round  into  the  mountains  of 
Mont  Dore  that  terminate  the  southern  landscape. 

It  is  the  nearer  prospect,  however,  which  forms  the 
chief  source  of  wonder  as  we  look  from  the  summit  of  the 
Puy  de  Dome.  Between  us  and  the  great  plain  of  the 
Limagne  lies  a  strip  of  the  elevated  granitic  plateau — a 
tract  of  bare  uneven  ground,  traversed  by  some  deep 
valleys  that  descend  towards  the  east.  On  this  plateau 
rises  a  chain  of  isolated  conical  hills,  stretching  due  north 
and  south  from  the  Puy  de  Dome,  which  is  the  highest 
point  in  the  district.  Unconnected  by  ridges  and  water- 
sheds into  a  regular  chain,  like  a  common  range  of  hills, 
they  shoot  up  from  a  dark  sombre  kind  of  tableland,  at  a 
steep  angle,  into  cones  which  seem  to  be  completely  sepa- 
rated from  each  other.  Cone  behind  cone,  from  a  mere 
hillock  up  to  a  good  hill,  rises  from  the  brown  waste  for 
some  twenty  miles  to  the  north  and  south  of  the  great  Puy. 
Some  of  them  are  partially  clothed  with  beechwoods,  but 
most  have  a  coating  of  coarse  grass  and  heath,  intermingled 
here  and  there  with  numerous  wild  flowers.  Where  devoid 
of  vegetation,  their  slopes  consist  of  loose  dust  and  stones, 
like  parts  of  the  tableland  on  which  they  stand.  Wolves 
still  harbour  in  their  solitudes,  among  the  dense  woods  that 
clothe  some  of  the  slopes,  'and  the  shepherds  have  to  keep  a 
good  look-out  after  their  flocks.  At  the  top  of  the  Puy  de 
Dome  I  found  a  boy,  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  armed  with  a 
club-headed  staff,  which  he  told  me  was  used  against  the 
audacious  wolves,  and  he  pointed  to  a  thick  forest  on  a 
neighbouring  hill  whence  the  animals  made  their  forays. 

Not  the  least  singular  feature  of  these  conical  hills  is, 
that  nearly  all  of  them  look  as  if  they  had  had  their  tops 
shaved  off.  Nay,  they  even  seem  in  the  distance  to  have 
been  more  or  less  scooped  out,  as  if  some  old  Titan  had 


v]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       87 

taken  a  huge  spadeful  out  of  the  summit  of  each  hill.  The 
reason  of  this  structure  may  be  guessed,  but  it  becomes 
strikingly  apparent  on  a  closer  inspection  of  the  ground. 
Each  cone,  with  four  or  five  exceptions,  is  found  on  ex- 
amination to  be  an  actual  volcano,  extinct  indeed,  but  still 
well-nigh  as  fresh  as  if  the  internal  fires  had  burnt  out  only 
yesterday.  The  truncated,  hollowed  summit  thus  turns 
out  to  be  a  true  crater — the  vent,  in  short,  whence  the 
materials  of  the  hill  were  erupted.  Upwards  of  fifty  such 
volcanoes  dot  the  ridge  to  the  north  and  south  of  the  Puy 
de  Dome,  each  formed  from  an  independent  orifice,  and 
sometimes  containing,  as  in  the  Puy  de  Montchie',  no  fewer 
than  four  separate  craters  in  one  hill.  They  consist  of 
loose  ashes,  dust,  and  scoriae,  still  so  lightly  aggregated  that, 
where  the  rain  has  bared  off  long  strips  of  the  grassy  cover- 
ing, one  may  slide  rapidly  ankle-deep  in  debris  from  the 
top  of  a  cone  to  its  base.  Many  of  the  cones  have  had 
one  of  their  sides  removed,  and  from  the  broken  part  a 
current  of  basaltic  lava  has  issued,  flowing  out  over  the 
tableland,  sometimes  for  several  miles,  and  even  descend- 
ing the  valleys  that  slope  into  the  Limagne.  The  main 
mass  of  lava,  in  many  different  streams,  has  gone  down  the 
western  side  of  the  chain  towards  the  valley  of  the  Sioule, 
and  hence  the  strange,  sombre,  arid  aspect  of  that  tract. 
From  the  summit  of  the  Puy  de  Dome  you  can  trace  some 
of  the  lava-streams,  marking  whence  they  issued  and  how 
they  flowed  across  the  country.  That  of  the  Villar  valley, 
already  described,  is  especially  noticeable,  breaking  from 
the  Puy  de  Pariou,  and  descending  towards  the  east  in  a 
black  rugged  current,  like  a  river  of  frozen  icebergs. 

Such,  then,  is  the  general  landscape  that  stretches 
around  the  great  Puy  de  Dome.  It  is  eminently  dreary 
and  desolate  in  the  nearer  parts,  while  in  the  eastern  dis- 


88  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  p* 

tance  the  eye  rests  on  the  bright,  corn-clad  Limagne.  The 
long  line  of  volcanic  cones  stretching  to  the  north  and 
south  affords  every  facility  to  the  geologist,  and  presents 
him,  moreover,  with  a  class  of  phenomena  not  found  round 
the  larger  active  volcanoes  of  Europe.  The  independence, 
small  extent,  number,  and  local  distribution  of  the  cones 
are  features  that  throw  light  on  what  must  have  been  the 
character  and  aspect  of  the  Carboniferous  volcanoes  of 
Central  Scotland,  to  illustrate  which  had  been  the  object 
of  my  visit  to  Auvergne.  A  closer  examination  of  these 
cones  brings  out  a  further  parallelism  with  the  more  ancient 
vents.  The  Puy  de  Pariou,  for  example — one  of  the  most 
accessible,  and  at  the  same  time  one  of  the  most  perfect, 
cones  of  the  chain — lies  somewhat  more  than  a  mile  due 
north  of  the  Puy  de  Dome.  It  consists,  in  reality,  of  two 
craters,  but  only  a  portion  of  the  northern  rim  of  the  older 
one  is  now  visible,  the  rest  being  occupied  by  the  newer 
crater,  which  is  still  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation. 
Ascending,  as  is  usual,  from  the  east  side,  the  visitor  first 
passes  over  a  lava-current.  From  the  foot  of  the  cone  the 
ascent  is  tolerably  steep,  among  coarse  grass,  violets,  marta- 
gon  lilies,  yellow  gentians,  and  many  other  flowers,  until 
the  top  of  the  older  cone  is  reached,  whence  he  looks  down 
into  the  first  crater,  with  the  gap  which  the  lava-current 
has  made  in  it.  Walking  southward  along  its  rim,  he  sees 
it  passing  under  a  later  cone,  which  reaches  a  height  of  738 
feet  above  the  plateau  from  which  the  southern  side  of  the 
hill  rises.  After  a  second  ascent,  he  arrives  at  last  at  the 
top  of  the  Puy,  and  finds  that  the  newer  cone  has  been 
erupted  over  the  southern  half  of  the  older  one,  and  that  it 
contains  a  beautifully  perfect  crater.  Hence,  from  the  top 
of  the  Puy  there  is  on  the  south  side  an  unbroken  declivity, 
sloping  at  about  35°,  down  to  the  surface  of  the  tableland, 


v]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.        89 

while  on  the  north  side  the  inner  cone  descends  first  into 
the  oldei  crater,  which  half  encircles  it.  The  last-formed 
crater  measures  3000  feet  in  circumference.  It  is  an  in- 
verted cone ;  its  sides  are  smooth  and  grassy,  and  shelve 
steeply  down  to  a  depth  of  300  feet.  They  have  been 
indented  by  a  series  of  cattle-tracks,  rising  in  successive  steps 
above  each  other,  which  Mr.  Scrope  aptly  compares  to  the 
seats  of  an  amphitheatre.  Nothing  can  be  more  complete 
or  regular  than  this  part  of  the  Puy.  While  ascending  the 
outer  slopes,  one  looks  forward  to  reach  a  broad  flat  table- 
land on  the  top,  carpeted  perchance  with  the  same  coarse 
heather  and  wild  flowers  as  clothe  the  sides  of  the  hill :  but, 
instead  of  level  ground,  one  gazes  down  into  a  deep,  round, 
smooth-sided  crater,  covered  with  grass  to  the  bottom. 
Between  the  inward  slope  of  this  hollow  and  the  outward 
declivities  of  the  Puy,  the  rim  is  at  times  so  narrow  that 
you  may  almost  sit  astride  on  it,  one  foot  dangling  into  the 
crater,  the  other  pointing  down  to  the  plateau  from  which 
the  hill  rises.  And  there,  with  wild  flowers  clustering 
around,  butterflies  hovering  past,  cattle  browsing  leisurely 
down  the  sides  of  the  crater  below,  while  the  tinkle  of  the 
sheep-bells  ever  and  anon  comes  up  with  the  scented  breeze 
from  the  outer  slopes  of  the  Puy,  one  cannot  without  an 
effort  picture  the  turmoil  and  violence  to  which  the  Puy 
owes  its  rise,  when  the  ground  was  rent  by  subterranean 
explosions,  and  when  showers  of  dust  and  stones  were 
thrown  out  from  the  orifice. 

From  the  older  crater,  now  more  than  half  filled  up  by 
the  last  eruptions,  a  stream  of  lava  passes  out  northwards, 
through  a  great  gap  in  the  cone,  trending  at  once  to  the 
east,  over  the  plateau  and  down  the  valley  of  Villar.  Here 
the  history  of  the  whole  Puy  is  at  once  apparent.  First  of 
all,  after  some  underground  movements,  a  fracture  was 


90  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  |> 

made,  through  which  gas,  steam,  ashes,  and  scoriae  were 
vomited  forth.  The  ejected  material  fell  back  again,  partly 
into  the  vent,  partly  round  its  margin,  gathering  by  degrees 
into  a  cone  with  a  crater  in  its  centre.  A  column  of  lava 
rose  in  the  vent,  began  to  fill  the  bowl-like  cavity  of  the 
crater,  and  continued  to  well  upward  until  the  loosely-com- 
pacted sides  of  the  hill  were  no  longer  able  to  withstand 
the  pressure  of  the  increasing  mass  of  melted  rock.  The 
northern  side,  being  probably  the  weakest,  gave  way,  and 
then  the  lava  burst  out  into  the  plain  below.  Taking  at 
once  an  easterly  course,  owing  to  the  general  slope  of  the 
ground,  it  descended  in  a  sheet  of  dark  rugged  rock,  now 
swelling  up  against  ridges  that  opposed  its  progress,  and 
then  sweeping  past  them  until  it  reached  the  beginning  of 
the  hill  of  Pradelle  already  noticed.  Here,  in  a  scene  of 
singular  confusion,  it  broke  into  two  streams,  one  leaping 
like  a  torrent  down  the  valley  of  Villar,  the  other  plunging 
into  the  valley  of  Gresinier.1  But  the  emission  of  this  vast 
body  of  melted  rock  did  not  conclude  the  eruptions  of  the 
Puy  de  Pariou.  When  the  lava  had  perhaps  ceased  to  flow, 
the  vapour  and  gases  still  continued  to  escape  with  violence. 
By  their  means  another  cone  was  in  time  produced,  not 
quite  on  the  former  site,  but,  as  so  often  happens,  a  little 
to  one  side,  so  as  to  cover  the  southern  half  of  the  older 
cone,  and  leave  visible  that  northern  segment  of  it  from 
which  the  lava  issued.  Thus  arose  the  later  cone  of  Pariou. 
No  subsequent  eruptions  have  disturbed  its  regularity  or 
filled  up  its  crater.  The  hand  of  time  has  not  effaced  its 
smooth  curves  and  slopes,  but  has  covered  them  with 
vegetation,  whereby  the  loose  dust  and  scoriae  are  protected 
from  the  destructiv/e  effects  of  heavy  rains.  After  the  lapse 

1  Mr.    Scrope's   description  of  these  lava-streams  is  a  model  of 
graphic  and  accurate  description. 


92  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [i 

of  many  a  long  century  this  little  volcano  is  still  nearly  as 
perfect  as  when  the  last  shower  of  ashes  fell  over  its  sides, 
and  it  promises  to  remain  so  for  centuries  to  come. 

The  Puy  de  Pariou  is  only  one  of  a  series  of  similar 
cones.  Some  have  but  one  crater,  others  have  two,  three, 
or  even,  as  in  the  instance  already  cited,  four.  Each  crater 
is  of  course  the  product  of  a  different  eruption  or  series  of 
eruptions,  as  the  Puy  de  Pariou  so  well  explains.  Several 
striking  examples  of  the  bursting  of  the  side  of  a  cone  by 
the  pressure  of  the  uprising  column  of  lava  within  it,  occur 
among  the  cones  to  the  south  of  the  Puy  de  Dome,  as  in 
the  Puy  de  las  Solas  and  the  Puy  de  la  Vache.  These  two 
hills,  when  seen  from  the  south,  look  like  the  mouths  of 
two  yawning  chasms.  Their  southern  sides  have  been 
swept  away  by  a  black  rugged  river  of  lava,  which,  issuing 
from  the  bottom  of  each  crater,  flows  eastward  in  a  united 
stream  for  twelve  miles  down  a  deep,  narrow  valley.  The 
scenery  round  these  hills  is  even  more  desolate  than  among 
those  to  the  north  of  the  Puy  de  Dome.  The  cones  and 
craters  are  in  many  places  devoid  of  all  verdure,  and  have 
still  much  of  the  blackened  and  burnt  aspect  of  active 
volcanoes.  The  lava,  too,  which  has  spread  out  over  most 
of  the  intermediate  ground,  is  dark,  bristling,  and  sterile. 
The  whole  landscape  leaves  an  impression,  not  easily  effaced, 
of  the  vigour  of  volcanic  agency,  and  of  its  power  to  modify, 
and  even  altogether  change  the  general  aspect  of  a  district. 

To  one  who  had  been  at  work  for  some  years  among  a 
set  of  old  and  fragmentary  volcanic  rocks,  trying  to  piece 
together  porphyrites,  dolerites,  basalts,  and  tuffs,  the  sight 
of  those  Puys,  with  their  fresh  cones  and  craters  of  ashes 
and  scoriae,  and  their  still  perfect  floods  of  lava,  was  inex- 
pressibly instructive.  Merely  to  cast  the  eye  over  the 
landscape  was  of  itself  a  memorable  lesson.  The  scene 


v]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.        93 

was  exactly  what  was  needed  to  enable  one  to  realise  the 
character  of  those  old  British  Carboniferous  volcanoes  of 
which  only  such  mere  fragments  now  remain.  High  among 
the  uplands  of  Central  France  my  eye  was  ever  instinctively 
recalling  the  hills  and  valleys  of  Central  Scotland,  and 
picturing  their  original  scenery  by  transferring  to  them 
some  of  the  main  features  in  the  landscapes  of  Auvergne. 
The  imagination  easily  filled  again  with  a  sheet  of  deep 
blue  water  the  broad  expanse  of  yonder  Limagne.  Vines, 
and  acacias,  and  mulberry -trees,  seemed  to  melt  of  their 
own  accord  into  stately  sigillarice,  lepidodendra,  and  calam- 
ites ;  the  orchards  and  cornfields  along  the  slopes  began  to 
wave  with  a  dense  underwood  of  ferns  and  shrubby  vege- 
tation ;  some  of  the  cones  rose  fresh  and  bare,  others  were 
dark  with  a  growth  of  araucarian  conifers,  and  there,  with 
but  little  further  change,  lay  a  landscape  in  the  central 
valley  of  Scotland  during  an  early  part  of  the  great  Carbon- 
iferous Period.  Nor  did  a  more  extended  examination  of 
other  parts  of  the  Volcanic  District  weaken  this  comparison, 
for  the  general  outward  resemblance  of  the  present  volcanic 
rocks  of  France,  to  what  must  have  been  the  original  aspect 
of  those  of  Scotland  at  the  geological  era  just  named,  holds 
good,  even  when  traced  into  detail. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  excursions  from  Clermont 
is  to  the  hill  of  Gergovia,  about  six  miles  to  the  south.  We 
started  off  early  one  morning,  while  the  sky,  which  had  been 
remarkably  clear  for  some  days,  began  to  grow  dusky  with 
heavy  clouds  that  kept  trooping  up  from  the  south-west. 
Puy  de  Dome  had  his  head  wrapped  in  mist,  and  giant 
shadows  chased  each  other  across  the  range  of  Puys  until, 
as  the  clouds  thickened,  all  the  uplands  were  shrouded  in 
an  ominous  gloom.  Rain  at  last  began  to  fall  in  large 
round  drops,  and  a  distant  muttering  of  thunder  was  heard 


94  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

rolling  away  northward.  But  the  morning  being  fresh  and 
cool,  even  at  the  risk  of  a  good  drenching  we  persevered. 
The  road,  like  all  the  French  military  highways,  excellently 
made  and  well  kept,  passes  through  endless  vineyards,  many 
of  which  lie  among  the  broken  ruins  of  lava-flows  that  have 
descended  from  the  heights  to  the  westward.  At  one  point 
it  has  even  been  cut  through  a  part  of  one  of  these  lavas. 

The  hill  of  Gergovia  is  famous  in  history  as  the  site 
of  a  town  long  and  successfully  defended  by  the  Arverni 
(people  of  Auvergne)  against  Caesar's  legions.  Some  inter- 
esting antiquarian  remains  had  been  found  shortly  before 
our  visit,  and  we  learnt  that  excavations  were  about  to  be 
renewed  in  search  of  more.  But  the  hill  is  not  less  inter- 
esting to  the  geologist  than  to  the  antiquary.  Seen  from 
the  east,  it  looks  like  a  broad  truncated  cone ;  but  it  differs 
altogether  in  appearance  and  origin  from  the  true  volcanic 
cones  of  the  Puys.  It  consists,  in  fact,  of  horizontal  strata 
of  marl  and  limestone ;  about  two-thirds  of  the  way  up  lies 
a  bed  of  basalt,  which  forms  a  marked  feature  along  the 
hillside ;  some  calcareous  and  ashy  strata  next  occur,  while 
the  summit  is  formed  by  a  capping  of  basalt.  These  marls 
and  limestones  are  of  lacustrine  origin,  as  is  shown  by  their 
fresh-water  shells,  and  by  the  caddis-worm  cases  which  they 
contain.  Forming  parts  of  the  deposits  of  the  old  lake  of 
the  Limagne,  they  attain  in  this  hill  a  thickness  of  probably 
not  less  than  1200  or  1500  feet.  Ascending  one  of  the 
ravines  which  deeply  furrow  the  east  side  of  the  hill,  we 
passed  over  these  thinly -laminated  strata,  piled  over  each 
other  in  successive  layers,  and  crumbling  away  like  chalk. 
Every  yard  of  the  steep  ascent  deepened  the  impression  of 
the  exceedingly  slow  rate  at  which  these  sediments  must 
have  been  formed,  and  therefore  of  the  prodigious  lapse  of 
time  which  their  entire  thickness  represents.  The  morning, 


V]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       95 

after  clearing  up  for  a  brief  space,  had  again  overcast,  and 
rain  began  to  fall  as  heavily  as  before.  We  sheltered  for 
a  little  under  the  lower  basalt.  Had  we  been  suddenly 
spirited  away  unawares  from  some  of  the  Scottish  glens, 
and  set  down  at  the  side  of  this  rock,  we  should  hardly 
have  recognised  the  change  of  scene.  The  basalt  is  a  true 
bed,  some  thirty  or  forty  feet  thick,  and  is  scarcely  distin- 
guishable from  certain  Carboniferous  basalts  of  the  Lothians. 
It  is  a  hard,  dark,  compact  rock,  somewhat  rough  and  scori- 
aceous  towards  the  bottom,  like  the  basalts  along  the 
magnificent  coast -section  near  Kinghorn  in  Fife.  But 
what  especially  interested  me  was,  to  find  that  the  upper 
surface  of  the  bed  was  even  and  smooth,  and  that  the 
marls  rested  on  it  unaltered,  the  line  of  demarcation  being 
sharp  and  clear.  The  basalt  had  undoubtedly  rolled  over 
the  bottom  of  the  old  lake  ;  it  rested  on  lacustrine  marls, 
and  strata  of  the  same  kind  covered  it.  But  its  upper 
surface,  so  far  from  rising  up  into  black  bristling  masses, 
like  the  subaerial  currents  of  the  Puys,  was  smooth  and 
even,  like  the  top  of  a  bed  of  sandstone  or  limestone,  and 
the  marls  which  succeeded  gave  no  sign  of  alteration  or 
disturbance.  I  therefore  inferred  that  the  evenness  of  the 
upper  surface  of  many  Palaeozoic  and  Tertiary  basalts  in 
Scotland  offered  no  valid  objection  to  their  being  of  the 
nature  of  true  lava-currents,  poured  out  at  the  surface,  and 
not  injected  at  some  depth  beneath  it. 

Ascending  beyond  the  prominent  zone  of  basalt,  we 
soon  reached  a  bed  of  calcareous  peperino,  or  tuff,  that  at 
once  recalled  some  of  the  tuffs  associated  with  parts  of  the 
Carboniferous  Limestone  of  Linlithgowshire  and  Fife,  its 
stratification  being  confused,  sometimes  highly  inclined, 
changing  its  direction,  or  even  disappearing  altogether. 
Similar  ashy  materials,  mingled  with  calcareous  matter, 


96  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

occupy  the  remainder  of  the  hill  up  to  the  cake  of  basalt 
which  crowns  the  summit,  and  show  how  among  the  fine 
sediments  of  the  ancient  lake  volcanic  ejections  were 
occasionally  thrown  down. 

We  intended  to  make  a  circuit  of  Gergovia,  descending 
on  the  north-west  side  towards  the  strange  isolated  castle- 
crowned  crag  of  Montrognon.  But  the  rain,  which  had 
fallen  with  scarcely  an  intermission  since  we  began  the 
ascent,  now  came  down  in  torrents.  We  took  refuge  in  a 
little  cave  in  the  calcareous  peperino,  which  looked  east- 
ward across  the  Limagne  to  the  distant  mountains  of  the 
Loire  and  southward  to  the  volcanic  heights  of  the  Velay. 
But  the  landscape  was  blotted  out  in  so  thick  a  veil  of 
falling  water  that  we  could  hardly  distinguish  the  form  of 
the  trees  at  a  short  distance  down  the  slopes.  It  was  an 
instructive  lesson  in  denudation  to  sit  at  the  mouth  of  the 
cave  and  watch  the  increase  of  the  runnels.  Over  ground 
which  in  the  morning  was  as  dry  and  parched  as  a  drought 
of  some  weeks'  duration  could  make  it,  water  now  poured 
in  hundreds  of  rivulets,  acquiring  a  milky  colour  from  the 
marl  debris  which  it  swept  away  in  its  descent.  One  could 
see  how  rapid  must  be  the  waste  of  these  soft  calcareous 
rocks.  Baked  and  cracked  by  the  fierce  heat  of  summer, 
their  surface  crumbles  down.  Every  shower  loosens  and 
removes  portions  of  this  disintegrated  surface  and  prepares 
the  way  for  the  action  of  the  shower  that  succeeds.  It  is 
by  these  means,  joined  with  the  undermining  agency  of 
rivers,  that  the  deep  and  wide  valleys  of  these  districts  have 
been  excavated. 

Sitting  in  the  cave  while  the  deluge  continued  outside, 
we  had  leisure  to  reflect  on  the  geological  history  of  the 
hill.  Its  strata  were  elaborated  at  the  bottom  of  the  lake 
that  filled  the  broad  valley  of  the  Limagne.  Leaf  after 


V]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       97 

leaf,  and  layer  after  layer  of  marl  and  limestone  were 
slowly  laid  down,  derived  mainly  from  the  crumbling 
remains  of  shells,  cyprids,  and  other  living  creatures  that 
tenanted  the  water.  The  rate  of  growth  of  these  tranquil 
deposits  must  have  been  remarkably  slow.  When  a  thick- 
ness of  at  least  a  thousand  feet  of  them  had  been  formed,  a 
volcano  sprang  up  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  rolled  into 
the  lake  the  stream  of  lava  represented  by  the  lower  bed  of 
basalt.  Fine  calcareous  sediment,  however,  began  to  be 
deposited  anew  over  the  floor  of  lava,  yet  the  volcanic 
forces  had  not  become  wholly  quiescent,  for  from  time  to 
time  showers  of  ashes  were  thrown  out,  which,  falling  into 
the  lake,  gave  rise  to  those  beds  of  peperino,  in  one  of 
which  we  were  now  taking  refuge  from  the  storm.  After- 
wards another  stream  of  lava  was  erupted,  forming  the 
present  summit  of  the  hill.  How  much  farther  the  series 
may  have  originally  extended  cannot  now  be  discovered, 
since  if  anything  was  deposited  on  the  surface  of  the  second 
basalt  it  has  been  subsequently  worn  away.  The  rain  at 
last  ceasing,  we  descended  by  an  endless  series  of  turnings 
and  windings  to  a  tree- shaded  road  that  led  through  corn- 
fields, now  heavy  with  their  golden  crop.  Away  to  the 
left  we  could  see  the  Chateau  de  Montrognon,  a  ruined 
fortalice  perched  on  the  summit  of  a  narrow  and  precipitous 
basaltic  hill.  Farther  over  lay  the  high  ground  of  the  Puys, 
with  the  rain-clouds  still  floating  over  it.  As  we  advanced, 
however,  the  sky  began  to  clear,  patches  of  deep  blue  now 
and  then  appeared  through  gaps  in  the  driving  clouds, 
until  the  last  mist-wreath  rose  from  the  great  Puy  de  Dome, 
and  amid  gleams  of  bright  sunshine  we  re-entered  Clermont 
about  noon. 

The  journey  to  Mont  Dore,  being  uphill  nearly  all  the 
way,  takes  the  greater  part  of  a  day.     The  first  half  of  the 

H 


98  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

road  winding  up  the  side  of  the  granitic  plateau  crosses 
several  of  the  lava-streams  which  have  descended  the  valleys, 
like  that  from  the  cone  of  Pariou,  and  at  last  reaches  the 
desolate  tableland  on  which  runs  the  chain  of  the  Puys.  A 
good  view  is  obtained  of  several  of  the  cones  on  the  south 
side  of  the  Puy  de  Dome,  the  ruined  yawning  craters  of 
the  Puy  de  las  Solas  and  the  Puy  de  la  Vache  being 
especially  noticeable,  with  their  now  silent  rivers  of  black 
rugged  lava.  From  the  half-way  house  the  road  runs 
southward  over  the  undulating  surface  of  the  plateau,  until 
it  begins  the  ascent  of  the  Mont  Dore  hills.  These  heights, 
in  their  lower  portions,  are  tolerably  green,  and  constantly 
recall  to  my  memory  parts  of  the  basaltic  scenery  of  Skye 
and  Mull.  Numerous  blocks  of  basalt,  sometimes  of 
considerable  size,  are  scattered  over  the  surface,  and  often 
lie  in  such  positions  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the 
action  of  the  atmosphere,  or  of  running  water,  could  have 
placed  them  there.  I  kept  an  eye  on  the  alert  to  detect  a 
striated  or  polished  surface  j  but  there  is  little  rock  exposed 
in  places  along  the  road,  and  I  was  unsuccessful.  It 
seemed  at  the  time,  however,  to  be  far  from  unlikely  that 
some  of  these  great  blocks  of  stone  had  been  ice-borne. 
When  the  glaciers  of  the  Alps  filled  the  valley  of  the  Lake 
of  Geneva,  at  a  height  of  no  more  than  1200  feet  above 
the  sea,  there  seems  no  reason  why  glaciers  should  not 
have  descended  from  the  Mont  Dore  mountains,  which 
now  form  the  highest  ground  in  Central  France,  rising  in 
the  Pic  de  Sancy  to  a  height  of  6217  feet.  At  this  day, 
indeed,  snow  remains  unmelted  in  the  higher  recesses  of 
these  mountains  even  in  midsummer.  I  am  not  aware, 
however,  that  the  existence  of  glaciers  has  ever  been 
recognised  here,  and  I  had  no  time  even  to  make  any 
attempt  to  solve  the  question  for  myself.  The  occurrence 


V]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       99 

of  the  scattered  blocks,  and  of  some  coarse  unstratified 
detritus,  in  the  steep  defile  that  descends  from  the  east  into 
the  valley  of  the  Dordogne,  was  at  least  sufficient  to  suggest 
the  possibility  of  a  partially  glacial  origin  for  some  of  the 
deep  valleys  of  the  Mont  Dore.1 

The  Baths  lie  in  a  valley  of  surpassing  loveliness, 
hemmed  in  by  lofty  mountains  and  huge  precipices.  The 
climate  is  delicious  as  a  contrast  to  the  scorching  sultri- 
ness of  the  lower  plains,  and  hence  the  locality  has  been 
a  watering-place  since  the  days  of  the  Roman  occupation 
of  Gaul.  We  had  time  only  to  get  a  peep  at  the  con- 
glomerates and  trachytes  of  this  great  volcanic  district. 
Everything  is  on  a  scale  so  much  vaster  than  in  the  country 
of  the  Puy  de  Dome,  that  the  first  impression  of  the 
geologist  is  one  of  bewilderment.  We  did  not  remain  long 
enough  to  get  rid  of  this  feeling,  and  at  this  moment  I  have 
a  confused  remembrance  of  vast  irregular  sheets  of  trachytic 
lava,  separated  by  piles  of  volcanic  ash  and  conglomerate, 
the  whole  thrown  together  in  a  way  which  at  the  time  it 
seemed  hopeless  to  attempt  to  unravel ;  of  dykes  and  veins 
of  basalt,  and  currents  of  lava,  belonging  to  much  more 
recent  eruptions  that  flowed  down  the  deep  valleys  which 
had  been  excavated  out  of  the  ancient  lavas. 

Contenting  ourselves  with  a  mere  survey  of  its  external 
features,  we  left  the  Mont  Dore  district  by  the  road  which, 
on  re-ascending  from  the  valley  of  the  Dordogne,  strikes 
towards  the  east  and  then  sweeps  down  into  the  valley  of 
Chambon.  The  Baths,  after  lying  for  some  hours  under 
the  shade  of  the  great  hills,  were  bathed  in  sunlight,  and 
full  of  bustle,  as  we  drove  through  the  streets.  Invalids, 
valetudinarians,  and  fashionable  visitors,  may  be  seen  passing 

1  Since  this  essay  was  published  the  former  existence  of  glaciers  in 
Auvergne  has  been  shown  by  MM.  Delanoue,  Marcou,  and  Gruner. 


IOC  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [\ 

to  and  fro  between  the  hotels  and  the  central  building 
where  the  waters  are  dispensed.  Some  are  borne  in  sedan- 
chairs,  but  the  greater  number  preform  the  short  journey 
on  foot.  Men  and  women,  as  soon  as  they  imbibe  their 
draught,  huri)  home  holding  their  mouths — a  sight  which 
is  now  and  then  irresistibly  comic — as  where  a  portly  priest, 
perhaps  of  some  threescore,  shuffles  back  to  his  hotel  with 
the  ends  of  his  dress  muffled  round  his  mouth  and  nose. 
On  inquiry  we  learned  that  this  proceeding  is  meant  to 
prevent  the  gas  from  escaping  after  the  morning  dose  of 
water — a  precaution  without  which  it  is  held  impossible 
to  derive  the  full  benefits  of  les  eaux  minerales. 

The  journey  from  Mont  Dore  les  Bains  to  the  plain  of 
the  Allier  at  Issoire  is  probably  one  of  the  most  interesting 
in  Central  France.  From  the  summit  level  of  the  road  the 
eye  wanders  over  a  wide  sweep  of  mountains  of  volcanic 
origin,  traversed  by  wide  valleys  and  narrow  gorges.  South- 
ward, in  the  dark  shady  rifts  of  the  higher  peaks,  lie 
gleaming  patches  of  snow,  and  the  breeze  that  plays  about 
these  uplands,  even  in  the  bright  sunshine,  is  cool  and 
refreshing.  In  the  course  of  the  descent  we  again  observed 
evidence  of  lava-flows  of  several  distinct  ages,  some  of  them 
high  up  along  the  sides  of  valleys  which  had  since  been 
excavated  through  them  ;  old  river  gravels,  too,  far  above 
the  channels  of  the  present  streams  ;  and  in  the  bottom  of 
the  valley,  following  all  its  curves  like  a  river,  a  current  of 
black  rugged  lava,  which  in  one  or  two  places  rose  up  into 
the  most  fantastic  masses.  The  impression  of  the  immense 
lapse  of  time  represented  by  these  Tertiary  formations  and 
their  subsequent  denudation  was  deepened  tenfold  as  we 
threaded  this  valley  (of  Chambon.  The  stream  which 
meanders  through  the  broader  meadow-lands,  and  leaps 
down  the  narrower  defiles,  has  undoubtedly  been  the  main 


v]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       101 

agent  in  scooping  out  this  great  indentation  in  the  flanks  of 
Mont  Dore.  Here  and  there,  in  the  centre  of  the  valley,  it 
has  left  isolated  patches  of  the  beds  of  rock  that  occur  on 
either  side,  such  as  the  picturesque  conical  crag  on  which 
stands  the  ruinous  castle  of  Murol.  These  outliers  are 
silent  witnesses  of  the  reality  of  the  erosion.  The  lava- 
current  at  the  bottom  of  the  valley  has  certainly  not  been 
erupted  since  the  time  of  the  Romans.  It  must,  therefore, 
be  at  least  2000  years  old,  and  may,  for  aught  we  can  tell, 
be  ten  or  a  hundred  times  older.  Yet  since  its  eruption, 
the  action  of  the  river,  though  here  and  there  bisecting 
the  lava,  has  nevertheless  been,  on  the  whole,  but  trifling ; 
indeed  the  amount  of  excavation  effected  since  the  eruption 
of  this  lava  probably  falls  far  short  of  a  thousandth  part  of 
the  general  erosion  of  the  valley.  Yet  the  excavation  of 
the  valley  of  Chambon  is  the  latest  and  perhaps  the  shortest 
of  all  the  stages  which  the  geology  of  the  district  indicates. 
How  vast  must  have  been  that  earlier  period  wherein  were 
deposited  those  fine  alternations  of  lime  and  clay  which 
form  hills,  such  as  Mont  Perrier,  several  hundred  feet  in 
height,  divisible  into  distinct  zones,  each  characterised  by 
peculiar  assemblages  of  fossils.  It  is  only  by  thus  advancing, 
step  by  step,  backward  into  the  remote  past,  that  we  begin 
to  appreciate  the  antiquity  of  the  Tertiary  groups  of  strata, 
and  to  realise,  in  some  measure,  the  extent  of  that  long 
history  of  physical  and  organic  change  of  which  these  strata 
contain  only  the  last  chapters. 

We  hurried  onward  from  Issoire  up  the  plain  of  the 
Allier,  catching  a  glimpse  of  the  little  contorted  coal-field 
of  Brassac — an  outlier  of  true  Carboniferous  strata,  resting 
in  a  hollow  of  the  crystalline  schists,  and  overlapped  by 
Tertiary  marls  and  limestones  which  stretch  southward 
from  the  Limagne.  Here  and  there  in  the  valley  were 


102  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

volcanic  mounds,  sometimes  capped  with  little  towns,  so 
that,  although  we  had  quitted  the  district  of  great  lava- 
streams,  we  were  far  from  having  reached  the  limits  of  the 
volcanic  district.  The  town  of  Brioude  lies  at  the  southern 
extremity  of  that  great  lacustrine  deposit  of  the  valley  of 
the  Allier,  so  conspicuously  displayed  in  the  Limagne 
d'Auvergne.  The  granitic  hills  close  in  upon  the  river, 
and  thence  swell  southward  into  the  mountains  of  La  Mar- 
geride  and  the  uplands  of  the  Haute-Loire.  Of  Brioude 
itself  I  have  a  pleasant  recollection  as  a  quaint  rambling 
town  with  some  large  decayed  houses  that  seem  to  have 
once  been  tenanted  by  a  better  class  of  inmates.  The 
hotel  at  which  we  stayed  was  one  of  these.  From  a  retired 
street  we  entered  a  low  archway,  and  found  ourselves  in  a 
dark  room  with  a  large  fireplace,  now  used  as  a  kitchen. 
A  number  of  doors  opened  out  of  the  farther  side  of  the 
room,  and  through  one  of  them  we  were  ushered  into  a 
lobby  with  broad  staircase  and  carved  banisters.  Up  and 
down,  through  one  passage  into  another,  we  at  last  halted 
at  a  recess  on  one  of  the  landings,  and  were  shown  into 
a  large  wainscoted  bedroom.  Its  tarnished  mirrors,  faded 
green-velvet  chairs,  old-fashioned  cabinets  and  tables,  were 
certainly  not  the  kind  of  furniture  one  would  have  expected 
to  see  in  a  quiet  hotel  in  a  remote  little  town.  There  was 
a  taste  and  harmony  about  the  whole,  and  they  fitted  so 
well  with  the  character  of  the  rest  of  the  house,  as  to  suggest 
that  the  place  had  been  the  residence  of  some  decayed 
family,  and  that  not  many  years  could  have  elapsed  since 
it  passed  into  the  hands  of  an  innkeeper. 

Crossing  the  Allier  by  the  fine  bridge  at  Old  Brioude, 
and  bidding  adieu  to  that  noble  river,  we  started  for  Le 
Puy.  Our  course  lay  towards  the  south-east,  up  a  range 
of  granitic  heights,  traversed  by  numerous  narrow  and 


v]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       103 

deep,  but  often  thickly- wooded  ravines,  and  with  fragments 
of  ancient  basalt  now  and  then  protruding  by  the  roadside, 
or  along  the  upper  edge  of  a  steep  bank.  The  country, 
however,  remains  somewhat  bare  and  uninteresting ;  nor 
until  one  begins  to  descend  towards  the  basin  of  the  Loire, 
and  catches  sight  of  the  range  of  volcanic  hills  and  cones 
that  encircle  Le  Puy,  does  its  interest  revive. 

Le  Puy  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  towns  in  France, 
built  round  a  conical  hill,  which  rises  in  the  valley  between 
the  River  Borne  and  another  tributary  of  the  Loire.  An 
abrupt  crag  of  breccia,  crowned  with  a  bronze  statue  of 
the  Virgin,  overhangs  it  on  the  north ;  while  lower  down  in 
the  plain  a  tall  massive  column  of  the  same  rock  supports 
the  small  and  seemingly  inaccessible  church  of  St.  Michel. 
The  country  rises  rapidly  on  all  sides,  so  that  Le  Puy  lies 
embosomed  among  hills — vast  piles  of  lava,  and  cones  of 
ash  formed  by  many  different  eruptions,  sweeping  away 
south  into  the  heights  of  Mont  Mezen  and  the  long  plateau 
which  here  separates  the  waters  of  the  Allier  from  those  of 
the  Loire. 

The  geologist  could  hardly  pitch  upon  a  locality  where 
more  may  be  learned  in  so  narrow  a  compass.  Le  Puy  lies 
in  the  centre  of  another  Tertiary  lake,  some  twenty  miles 
long,  and  twelve  or  fourteen  broad.  This  lake  occupied  a 
hollow  in  the  great  granitic  framework  of  the  country,  and, 
like  the  Limagne  d'Auvergne,  gave  rise  to  the  slow  accumu- 
lation of  fine  marls,  limestones,  and  sandstones,  which 
attained  a  united  thickness  of  hundreds  of  feet.  Over  the 
top  of  these  horizontal  strata,  lavas  and  ashes  were  erupted 
to  a  depth  of  three  or  four  hundred  feet,  so  as  wholly  to 
cover  up  the  lacustrine  deposits,  and  obliterate  the  site  of 
the  lake.  Since  these  events,  the  Loire  and  its  tributaries 
have  been  ceaselessly  at  work  in  deepening  and  widening 


104  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

their  channels.  And  now,  incredible  as  it  may  seem,  these 
streams  have  actually  cut  their  way  down  through  the  solid 
basalt,  and  a  great  part  of  the  old  lake  formations.  They 
have,  in  short,  excavated  a  series  of  valleys,  several  hundred 
feet  deep,  and  sometimes  of  considerable  width,  along  the 
sides  of  which  are  exposed  the  remaining  edges  of  the 
strata  that  have  been  worn  away.  Standing  on  the  summit 
of  the  Montagne  de  Denise,  and  looking  round  upon  the 
valleys  and  ravines  on  every  side,  each  traversed  by  what 
seemed  such  an  insignificant  stream,  I  felt  as  if  a  new 
geological  agent  were  for  the  first  time  made  known  to  me. 
Striking  as  are  the  proofs  of  erosion  in  the  country  of  the 
Limagne,  they  fall  far  short  of  these  in  the  Haute-Loire. 
To  be  actually  realised,  such  a  scene  must  be  visited  in 
person.  No  amount  of  verbal  description,  not  even  the 
most  careful  drawings,  will  convey  a  full  sense  of  the  magni- 
tude of  the  changes  to  one  who  is  acquainted  only  with  the 
rivers  of  a  glaciated  country  such  as  Britain.  The  first 
impression  received  from  a  landscape  like  that  round  Le 
Puy  is  rather  one  of  utter  bewilderment.  The  upsetting  of 
all  one's  previous  estimates  of  the  power  of  rain  and  rivers 
is  sudden  and  complete.  It  is  not  without  an  effort,  and 
after  having  analysed  the  scene,  feature  by  feature,  that 
the  geologist  can  take  it  all  in.  But  when  he  has  done  so, 
his  views  of  the  effects  of  subaerial  disintegration  become 
permanently  altered,  and  he  quits  the  district  with  a  rooted 
conviction  that  there  is  almost  no  amount  of  waste  and 
erosion  of  the  solid  frame-work  of  the  land  which  may  not 
be  brought  about  in  time  by  the  combined  influence  ot 
springs,  frost,  rain,  and  rivers. 

The  volcanic  phenomena  of  the  neighbourhood  of  Le 
Puy  are  likewise  full  of  interest,  and,  owing  to  the  numerous 
deep  ravines,  they  can  be  easily  studied  in  admirable  natural 


v]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       105 

sections.  The  sheets  of  lava,  often  beautifully  columnar, 
recall  many  of  the  basalts  of  Scotland.  The  beds  of  peperino, 
or  tuff,  likewise  bear  the  strongest  resemblance  to  some  of 
the  Carboniferous  tuffs  of  the  Lothians.  Indeed,  many  parts 
of  the  scenery  differ  but  little  from  some  of  the  Scottish  vol- 
canic districts.  We  found  the  cones  of  scoriae  more  numer- 
ous, but  less  perfect  than  round  the  Puy  de  Dome ;  as  if 
they  belonged  to  an  earlier  era,  and  had  consequently  been 
longer  exposed  to  the  wasting  effects  of  time.  But  this 
greater  antiquity  is  occasionally  productive  of  much  advan- 
tage to  the  geologist,  for  it  presents  him  with  chasms  and 
cliffs,  without  which  he  would  miss  many  incidents  in  the 
geological  history  of  the  district.  Thus,  near  Le  Puy,  the 
volcanic  cone  of  Mont  Denise,  so  well  known  for  the  in- 
teresting fossils  which  have  been  found  in  its  underlying 
gravels,  has  had  its  western  front  exposed  partly  by  nature 
and  partly  by  man.  By  this  means  are  laid  bare  the  strata  of 
volcanic  breccia  that  rest  on  the  marls  of  the  old  lake  ;  on 
a  worn  surface  of  the  breccia  comes  a  band  of  true  river 
gravel  now  several  hundred  feet  above  the  present  bed  of 
the  Borne,  while  associated  with  this  gravel  there  is  some- 
times a  newer  volcanic  tuff.  Through  these  various  deposits 
the  volcano  of  Mont  Denise  broke  out,  piling  up  the  mound 
of  loose  scoriae  and  ashes  that  form  the  hill.  Here  we  saw, 
what  it  had  not  been  our  good  fortune  to  meet  with  in  the 
Puy  de  Dome — the  actual  section  of  a  volcanic  vent.  The 
sides  were  smooth  and  worn,  and  the  bed  of  hard  breccia, 
which  had  been  perforated  nearly  vertically,  still  retained 
the  grooving  and  polishing  produced  by  the  friction  of 
the  ejected  scoriae.  The  vent  was  filled  up  with  a  black 
scoriaceous  lava,  while  several  lava  coulees  that  had  rolled 
down  the  hillside  now  formed  dark  masses  of  prominent 
crag  and  cliff.  This  little  volcano  bore  a  close  resemblance 


106  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [v 

to  the  upper  part  of  Arthur's  Seat  at  Edinburgh.  In  each 
case  a  column  of  lava  is  surrounded  by  an  outer  envelope 
of  loose  ashes,  over  which  various  currents  of  lava  have 
rolled  down  from  the  crater. 

With  no  little  reluctance,  and  not  until  the  sun  had 
dipped  behind  the  western  hills,  did  we  quit  the  slopes  of 
Mont  Denise.  The  evening,  after  a  day  of  mingled  storm 
and  sunshine,  was  beautiful,  and  the  whole  of  that  wondrous 
landscape  lay  bright  and  clear  around.  It  was  the  last 
evening,  too,  which  we  had  to  spend  in  the  volcanic  region 
of  Central  France ;  nor  could  we  have  secured  a  more 
auspicious  sky  or  a  more  favourable  locality  for  taking  a 
last  view  of  the  scenery  and  summing  up  the  results  of  the 
journey.  Sitting  on  a  pile  of  loose  cinders  on  the  top  of 
the  hill,  we  watched  the  level  rays  lighting  up  the  vast 
basalt  plateau  that  stretched  away  for  miles  to  the  west, 
while  each  of  the  many  cones  that  dotted  the  plain  cast 
its  long  shadow  towards  us.  With  undiminished  wonder 
we  gazed  again  at  the  deep  ravines  and  valleys  by  which 
the  plateau  is  broken  up,  each  with  its  streamlet  meander- 
ing like  a  silver  thread  between  the  slopes.  The  sunlight 
lay  warm  and  bright  on  the  town  of  Le  Puy  in  the  valley 
below,  with  its  isolated  crag  of  La  Vierge,  and  its  church- 
crowned  pinnacle  of  St.  Michel — two  rocks  that  remain  to 
record  the  enormous  erosion  of  these  valleys.  The  castle 
of  Polignac — built  on  another  outlying  crag  farther  down 
the  plain — stood  up*  in  the  deep  shadow  of  Mont  Denise. 
Eastward,  the  gorges  that  open  into  the  Loire  gleamed  white 
as  the  sunset  fell  along  their  bars  of  pale  marls  and  lime- 
stones, and  their  capping  of  basalt.  Beyond  these,  cone 
rose  behind  cone,(  amid  piles  of  lava -currents  of  many 
different  ages ;  each  sunward  slope  and  crest  was  now 
flushed  with  a  rosy  hue  deepening  into  purple  in  the  dis- 


v]       VOLCANOES  OF  CENTRAL  FRANCE.       107 

tance,  until,  far  away  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  mountains 
of  Mont  Mezen  were  steeped  in  the  softest  violet,  that 
melted  into  the  twilight  of  the  eastern  sky. 

And  here  we  took  leave  of  the  volcanoes  of  Central 
France.  Coming  as  learners  to  a  district  which  had  been 
already  often  and  carefully  explored,  we  gained  such  a  vivid 
impression  of  the  phenomena  of  the  country  as  can  only  be 
obtained  from  an  actual  visit.  We  were  now  able  to  realise, 
with  a  clearness  till  then  unlocked  for,  the  original  features 
of  those  ancient  Scottish  igneous  rocks,  among  whose  frag- 
mentary relics  we  had  been  at  work  for  years.  In  the  form 
of  their  cones,  their  distribution,  their  aspect  in  the  land- 
scape, the  limited  extension  of  their  ashes,  the  form  and 
disposition  of  their  lava -currents,  the  structure  of  their 
craters,  and  their  relation  to  the  underlying  and  to  the 
contemporaneous  stratified  deposits,  these  extinct  Tertiary 
volcanoes  of  France  cast  a  flood  of  what  to  me  was  new 
light  upon  the  long-extinct  Carboniferous  volcanoes  of  Scot- 
land. I  seemed  no  longer  to  be  dealing  with  conjectures, 
but  with  sober  truths.  To  the  history  of  the  igneous  rocks 
of  my  own  country  there  was  now  imparted  a  freshness  and 
reality  such  as  it  did  not  possess  before.  More  than  ever 
did  these  rocks  stand  forth,  not  as  mere  mineral  masses, 
to  be  described  in  text-books  as  occupying  definite  areas 
of  ground,  or  to  be  arranged  by  hand -specimens  in  a 
museum  as  so  many  mineralogical  compounds,  but  as  the 
records  of  a  long  geological  history  which  they  would  unfold 
if  only  questioned  in  the  right  way.  And  the  main  result 
of  our  wanderings  in  the  Auvergne  and  Velay  was  to  show 
us  how  this  questioning  should  be  carried  on. 

Nor  did  we  value  less  the  new  and  enlarged  views 
which  those  rambles  gave  us  of  the  potency  of  rain,  rivers, 
and  other  atmospheric  agencies,  in  effecting  the  degrada- 


log  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [\ 

tion  of  the  land.  Nothing  we  had  read  in  geological 
literature,  not  even  Mr.  Scrope's  classic  descriptions  of  this 
very  region,  had  prepared  us  for  the  contemplation  of 
changes  so  stupendous  as  those  of  the  erosion  of  the 
ravines  and  valleys  of  Le  Puy.  To  look  upon  them  for 
the  first  time  was,  as  I  have  said,  like  a  new  revelation, 
which  in  an  instant  uprooted  a  host  of  narrow  long-cherished 
conceptions,  and  supplanted  them  with  a  profound  respect 
for  the  power  of  the  terrestrial  agencies  of  waste.  Broader, 
and  truer,  and  fresher  views  of  nature  are  worth  the  trouble 
of  a  long  journey,  and  in  gaining  them  we  felt  ourselves 
abundantly  repaid  for  our  toil  under  a  fierce  sun  among 
the  uplands  of  Central  France 


vij     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.     109 


VI. 

THE  OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND 
SCOTLAND.1 

IN  the  course  of  the  detailed  investigations  of  the  history 
of  the  glacial  period  in  Britain,  which,  during  the  past  six 
or  seven  years,  have  been  carried  on  by  the  Geological 
Survey,  the  desire  naturally  arose  to  compare  the  pheno- 
mena of  glaciation  now  familiar  in  this  country  with  those 
of  some  other  region  where  they  might  be  linked  with  the 
action  of  still  existing  glaciers.  No  other  part  of  Europe 
offered  so  many  facilities  for  such  a  comparison  as  were 
to  be  found  in  Scandinavia.  In  the  first  place,  the  rocks 
of  the  two  regions  were  known  to  present  many  points 
of  resemblance  in  structure  and  scenery.  It  was  further 
evident  from  the  published  accounts  that  the  Norwegian 
coast  possessed  the  ice-worn  aspect  so  characteristic  of  the 
West  of  Scotland. 

The  objects  proposed  to  be  accomplished  in  this 
excursion  were — to  compare,  as  minutely  as  time  would 
allow,  the  ice-marks  on  the  rocks  of  Scotland  with  those 

1  Proc.  Roy.  Soc.  Edin.,  January  1866.  The  observations  here 
recorded  were  made  by  me  in  the  summer  of  the  year  1865,  in  com- 
pany with  my  colleagues  in  the  Geological  Survey,  Messrs.  W.  Whitakei 
and  James  Geikie. 


I io  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

on  the  rocks  of  Scandinavia ;  to  ascertain,  from  personal 
exploration,  how  far  the  glaciation  of  the  Norwegian  coasts 
and  fjords  could  be  traced  to  the  action  of  land -ice  or 
of  floating  bergs ;  to  trace,  if  possible,  the  connection  be- 
tween the  ancient  ice- work  and  the  work  of  living  glaciers ; 
and,  generally,  to  seek  for  any  facts  that  might  help 
to  throw  light  upon  the  history  of  the  glacial  period  in 
the  British  Isles.  Having  only  a  few  weeks  at  our  dis- 
posal, we  were  far  from  aiming  at  original  discovery  in 
Norwegian  geology.  The  main  features  of  the  disposition 
of  the  snow-fields  and  glaciers  had  already  been  given  in 
the  masterly  sketch  by  Principal  Forbes  —  a  work  which 
was  of  inestimable  value  to  us.1  More  detailed  descrip- 
tions of  parts  of  the  glaciation  of  Norway  had  been 
published  by  Scandinavian  geologists — Esmark,2  Horbye,3 

1  Norway  and  its  Glaciers,  8vo,  1853.      Mr.   Chambers  also  has 
referred   to    the    striated   rocks   in   different   parts  of  Norway   in  his 
Tracings  of  the  North  of  Europe,  1850. 

2  Esmark.       Edin.    New  Phil.  Journal,    vol.    ii.   p.    116   et  seq. 
(1826).      In  this  paper  the  former  presence  of  land  ice  over  large  areas 
from  which  it  is  now  absent,  and  its  powerful  influence  as  a  geological 
agent  of  abrasion,  are,  for  the  first  time,  distinctly  recognised.     The 
illustrations  are  taken  from  the  south  of  Norway. 

3  Horbye.      "  Observations  sur  les  phenomenes  d'erosion  en  Nor- 
vege" — Programme  de  PUniversite  de  Christiania  pour  1857.     The 
author  -gives  a  careful  resume  of  all  the  observations  made  by  himself 
and  others  upon  the  direction  of  the  striae  on  the  rocks  of  Norway, 
and  adds  a  number  of  maps,  one  of  which  shows  the  outward  radia- 
tion of  the  striae  from  the  central  mountain  mass  of  Scandinavia.     Yet 
he  commits  himself  to  no  theory  as  to  the  nature  of  the  agent  by 
which  the  strise  were  produced.      In  a  concluding  section  upon  the 
glacial  theory,   he  says: — "II  est  vrai  sans  doute  qu'en  general   la 
direction  des  stries  est  parallele  a  Favancement  des  glaciers  actuels ; 
mais  je  ne  vois  pas  que  cet'te  circonstance  puisse  sufnsamment  demon- 
trer  que  les  stries  ont  etc  gravees  par  les  glaciers."      "  Je  me  joins  & 
cette  conclusion,  que  les  sulcatures  du  Nord  se  presentent  comme  des 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND,     in 

Kjerulf,1  Sexe,2  and  others.  Yet  I  was  not  without  the 
hope  that,  besides  adding  to  our  own  experience,  we  might 
also  be  fortunate  enough  to  find  in  the  Norwegian  fjords 
materials  for  making  still  more  clear  the  geological  history 
of  our  own  western  sea-lochs. 

The  close  resemblance  between  the  general  outline  of 
Scotland  and  that  of  Scandinavia  is  too  well  known  to  need 
more  than  a  passing  allusion.  The  numerous  deep  and 
intricate  indentations,  the  endless  islands  and  skerries,  the 
mountainous  shores,  the  host  of  short  independent  streams 
on  the  western  coast ;  and  on  the  eastern  side,  the  broad, 
undulating  lowlands,  sending  their  collected  drainage  into 
large  rivers,  which  enter  the  sea  along  a  comparatively  little 
embayed  coast-line,  are  familiar  features  on  the  maps  of 
both  countries.  This  general  outward  resemblance,  which 
at  once  arrests  the  attention  of  every  traveller  in  Norway 
to  whom  the  scenery  of  the  Western  Highlands  is  familiar, 
depends  upon  a  close  similarity  in  the  geological  structure  of 
the  rocks,  and  a  coincidence  in  the  geological  history  of  the 
surface  of  the  two  regions.  Norway,  from  south  to  north, 
is  almost  wholly  made  up  of  crystalline  and  schistose  rocks, 
not  all  of  the  same  age,  yet  possessing  a  general  similarity 
of  character.  In  like  manner,  the  West  of  Scotland,  from 
the  Mull  of  Cantyre  to  Cape  Wrath,  is  in  great  measure 

produits  q'un  agent  plus  puissant  et  plus  general  que  les  glaciers  dont 
1'action  conserve  toujours  un  caractere  plus  local."  But  he  does  not 
indicate  what  this  more  powerful  and  more  general  agent  may  be. 

1  Kjerulf.      Uber  das  Friktions-Phanomen,  Christiania,  8vo,  1860. 
See    also  Programme  de  V  Universite  de  Christiania  pour  1860,   and 
Zeitschrift  der  Deutsch.  GeoL  Gesehchaft,  1863,  p.  619,  and  plate  xvii. 

2  Sexe.  "  Om  Sneebrseen  Folgefon."  Christiania.    Universitets-pro- 
gram  for  andet  Halvaar  1864.     This  paper  gives  a  detailed  account, 
with  map  and  sections,   of  the  Folgefon  snow-field  and  its  glaciers, 
including  the  well-known  glacier  of  Bondhuus. 


112  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

built  up  of  gneisses,  schists,  slates,  quartzites,  granites,  and 
other  rocks,  quite  comparable  with  those  of  Norway.1 

Besides  the  external  resemblance  due  to  the  lithological 
nature  of  the  rocks  beneath,  there  is  a  still  further  likeness 
dependent  upon  similarity,  partly  of  geological  structure, 
and  partly  of  denudation.  Most  of  the  Scottish  sea-lochs 
have  had  their  trend  determined  by  lines  of  strike  or  of 
anticlinal  axis,  and  the  same  result  seems  to  have  taken 
place  in  Norway.  But  the  lochs  and  glens  of  the  one 
country,  and  the  fjords  and  valleys  of  the  other,  whether 
or  not  their  site  and  direction  have  been  determined  by 
geological  structure,  unquestionably  owe  their  excavation  to 
the  great  process  of  denudation  which  has  brought  the 
surface  of  the  land  to  its  present  form.2  In  short,  Norway 
and  the  Scottish  Highlands  seem  to  be  but  parts  of  one 
long  tableland  of  erosion  composed  of  palaeozoic  (chiefly 
metamorphic)  rocks.  This  tableland  must  be  of  venerable 
antiquity ;  for  it  seems  to  have  been  in  existence,  at  least 
in  part,  as  far  back  as  the  Lower  Old  Red  Sandstone. 
Since  that  time  it  has  been  sorely  defaced  by  long  cycles 
of  geological  revolution ;  rains,  rivers,  ice,  and  general 
atmospheric  waste  have  carved  out  of  it  the  present  valleys, 
and  to  all  this  surface-change  must  be  added  the  results  of 
dislocations,  as  well  as  unequal  upheavals  and  depressions 
of  the  crust  of  the  earth  beneath.  Nevertheless  it  still 
survives  in  extensive  fragments  in  Norway,  where  it  serves 

1  Since  this  paper  was  published,  my  friends  Dr.  T.  Kjerulf  and 
Dr.    Tellef    Dahll    have    given    to    the    world    numerous    instructive 
memoirs    on    Norwegian   geology.       A    German    translation    of    Dr. 
Kjerulf's  Geology  of  Southern  Norway  has  been  published  by  Dr.  Gurlt, 
Bonn,  1879. 

2  I  have  tried  to  trace  the  history  of  this  process  in  the  case  of  the 
Scottish  Highlands.       The  Scenery  of  Scotland  viewed  in  connection 
with  ih  Physical  Geology,  chap.  vi. 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.     113 

as  a  platform  for  the  great  snow-fields,  while  it  can  even 
yet  be  traced  along  the  undulating  summits  of  the  moun- 
tains of  the  Scottish  Highlands.  One  of  its  latest  great 
revolutions  was  a  submergence  towards  the  west,  which, 
extending  from  the  coasts  of  Ireland  to  the  north  of  Nor- 
way, has  given  rise  to  some  of  the  most  distinctive  features 


Fig.  7. — Ice- worn  bosses  of  gneiss  and  perched  blocks.     North 
coast  of  Sutherland. 


of  that  part  of  Europe.  No  one  can  attentively  compare 
the  maps  of  the  land  with  the  charts  of  the  sea-bottom  in 
the  region  between  the  headlands  of  Connaught  and  the 
North  Cape,  without  being  convinced  that  the  endless 
ramifying  sea-lochs  and  fjords,  kyles  and  sounds,  were  once 


ii4  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

land-valleys.  Each  loch  and  fjord  is  the  submerged  part 
of  a  valley,  of  which  we  still  see  the  upper  portion  above 
water,  and  the  sunken  rocks  and  skerries,  islets  and  islands 
are  all  so  many  relics  of  the  uneven  surface  of  the  old  land 
before  its  submergence.  The  indented  form  of  the  coast- 
line of  the  west  of  Scotland  and  of  Norway  is  not  evidence 
of  the  unequal  encroachment  of  the  sea,  as  is  often,  per- 
haps generally,  supposed,  but  is  due  to  a  general  submerg- 
ence of  the  west  side  of  the  two  countries,  whereby  the 
tides  have  been  sent  far  inland,  filling  from  side  to  side 
ancient  valleys  and  lakes.1  Subsequent  re-elevations,  or 
rather,  stationary  intervals  during  a  long  period  of  elevation, 
are  marked  along  both  the  Norwegian  and  Scottish  shores 
by  successive  terraces  or  raised  beaches. 

But  to  one  who  has  sailed  or  boated  among  the  sea- 
lochs  of  Scotland,  no  feature  of  the  Norwegian  coast  is  at 
once  so  striking  and  so  familiar  as  the  universal  smoothing 
and  rounding  of  the  rocks,  which  is  now  recognised  as  the 
result  of  the  abrading  power  of  ice.  Every  skerry  and  islet 
among  the  countless  thousands  of  that  coast-line  is  either 
one  smooth  boss  of  rock,  like  the  back  of  a  whale  or  dol- 
phin, or  a  succession  of  such  bosses  rising  and  sinking  in 
gentle  undulations  into  each  other.  Such,  too,  is  the  nature 
of  the  rocky  shore  of  every  fjord ;  the  smoothed  surface 
growing  gradually  rougher,  indeed,  as  we  trace  it  upward 
from  the  sea-level,  yet  continuing  to  show  itself,  until  at  a 
height  of  many  hundred  feet  it  merges  into  the  broken, 
scarped  outlines  of  the  higher  mountain-sides  and  summits.2 

1  See  a    fuller   statement  of  this  subject  in  Scenery  of  Scotland^ 
pp.   125-137. 

2  The  singularly  ice- worn1  aspect  of  the  Norwegian  coast,  as  well 
as  its  strong  resemblance  to  the  west  coast  of  Scotland,  was  succinctly 
described  by  Principal  Forbes,  Norway  and  its  Glaciers,  p.  42  et  seq. 


vi]    OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.      115 

In  short,  as  is  now  well  known,  the  whole  of  the  surface  of 
the  country,  for  many  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  has  been 
ground  down  and  smoothed  by  ice. 

We  sailed  along  the  coast  of  Norway,  between  Bergen 
and  Hammerfest,  by  the  usual  steamboat  route,  touching 
at  many  stations  by  the  way,  threading  the  narrow  kyles 
and  sounds  that  lie  among  the  innumerable  islands,  and 
now  and  then  running  inland  up  some  fjord  far  into  the 
heart  of  the  country.  We  halted  here  and  there  to  spend 
a  few  days  at  a  time  in  exploring  some  of  the  fjords  and 
glaciers.  What  can  be  seen  from  the  steamer  on  the  coast- 
ing voyage  is  now  familiar  from  the  numerous  descriptions 
which  have  been  given  of  it  in  recent  years.  I  shall  there- 
fore content  myself  with  offering  an  account  of  two  excur- 
sions to  points  at  some  distance  from  the  ordinary  route. 

A  little  to  the  north  of  the  Arctic  Circle  lies  the  island 
of  Meld,  one  of  many  which  are  here  crowded  together 
along  the  coast  It  is  only  noticeable,  inasmuch  as  it  is  a 
station  at  which  the  steamers  call,  and  from  which  the  great 
snow-fields  of  the  Svartisen  or  Fondalen  may  be  most  easily 
visited.  Here,  as  along  all  the  Norwegian  coasts,  we  find 
ourselves  among  bare  bossy  hummocks  of  rock  thoroughly 
ice-worn.  From  the  higher  eminences  the  eye  sweeps 
over  the  countless  islets  and  skerries,  and  far  across  the 
Vest  Fjord  to  the  serrated  peaks  of  the  Lofodden  Islands, 
which  in  the  distance  seem  deep  sunk  in  the  north-western 
sea.  The  whole  of  the  lower  grounds  is  one  labyrinth  of 
roches  moutonnees,  raising  their  smooth  backs  like  so  many 
porpoises  out  of  the  sea,  as  well  as  peering  out  of  a  flat 
expanse  of  green  pasture  and  dark  bog  which  here  covers 
an  old  sea-bottom.  The  striations  and  groovings  are  still 
fresh  on  many  of  the  smoothed  surfaces  of  gneiss,  and  in- 
variably run  straight  out  to  sea  in  the  line  of  the  long  valley 


n6  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

up  which  the  sea  winds  inland  among  the  snowy  mountains. 
It  cannot  be  doubted  that  a  vast  mass  of  ice  has  come  sea- 
wards down  this  valley,  and  that  all  these  ice-worn  hum- 
mocks of  rock  were  ground  down  by  it.  The  wide  open- 
ing at  Melo  is  formed  by  the  converging  mouths  of  a 
number  of  narrow  fjords  (Fig.  8).  Of  these  the  most 
northerly  is  the  Glommens  Fjord,  which  is  bounded  along 
its  northern  side  by  a  range  of  high  mountains,  with  a 
serrated  crest  and  abundant  snowy  clefts  and  corries. 
Southward  lies  a  belt  of  lower  ice-worn  hills,  cut  lengthwise 
by  the  Bjerangs  Fjord,  and  bounded  on  the  south  by  the 
Holands  Fjord,  on  the  south  side  of  which  rises  another 
range  of  scarped  snow-covered  mountains. 1 

From  the  gaard  of  Melo  we  boated  eastward  among 
various  small  islets  and  channels,  passing  soon  into  the 
Holands  Fjord,  up  which  we  continued  until  we  rested 
underneath  the  great  snow-field  and  glaciers  of  Svartisen. 
In  this  excursion  we  started  from  the  coast,  amid  islands, 
all  moulded,  like  those  of  the  West  of  Scotland,  by  the  ice 
of  the  glacial  period,  and  in  the  evening  we  reached  rocks 
on  which  the  present  glaciers  are  inscribing  precisely  the 
same  markings.  One  of  the  first  features  which  arrested 
attention  was  the  contrast  between  the  smoothed,  ice-worn 
surface  of  the  lower  grounds  and  the  craggy,  scarped  out- 
lines of  the  mountain  crests.  This  was  especially  marked 
along  the  northern  side  of  the  Glommens  Fjord,  where  the 
ice-worn  rocks  form  a  distinct  zone  along  the  side  of  the 

1  Although  I  use  the  word  mountains,  there  is  no  definite  system 
of  ridges  ;  on  the  contrary,  these  fjords  must  be  regarded  as  indenta- 
tions along  l.he  edge  of  a  great  tableland,  of  which  the  average  level  may 
range  from  3000  to  4000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  which  serves  as  the 
platform  on  which  the  wide  snow-fields  lie.  See  Norway  and  iti 
Glaciers,  pp.  190  232. 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.     117 

rough,  craggy  hills.  To  the  north  of  Melovaer  this  ice- 
worn  belt  was  estimated  to  rise  about  200  feet  above  the 
sea.  Its  smoothed  rocks  are  abundantly  rent  along  lines 
of  joint  and  other  divisional  planes ;  their  ice-worn  aspect 
must  thus  be  imperceptibly  fading  away.  The  rough  rocks 
above  them  sometimes  show  traces  of  smoothed  surfaces, 
as  if  they  too  had  suffered  from  an  older  glaciation,  of 


.  8. — Map  of  the  Neighbourhood  of  the  Holands  Fjord  (Munch). 


which  the  records  are  now  all  but  obliterated.  The  line  of 
division  between  the  belt  of  rocks  which  have  been  smoothed 
by  ice,  and  those  which  have  been  roughened  and  scarped 
by  atmospheric  waste,  slopes  gently  upward  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  central  snow-fields  of  the  interior.  While  at 
Melovaer  it  seemed  to  rise  only  about  200  feet  above  the 
sea;  at  Fondalen,  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  inland,  it 
mounts  to  a  height  of  fully  1500  feet.  A  tract  of  bare 


n8  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

hills,  lying  between  the  Glommens  and  the  Holands  Fjords, 
and  rising  eastward  into  the  snow-covered  tableland,  is  well 
smoothed  in  the  direction  of  these  fjords.  In  short,  the 
whole  of  the  broad  depression  between  the  two  fjords  has 
been  filled  with  ice,  moving  steadily  downwards  from  the 
snow-fields  to  the  sea. 

It  was  interesting  to  watch,  on  every  little  islet  and 
promontory  under  which  we  passed,  even  the  same  details 
of  glaciation  so  familiar  along  the  margin  of  our  Scottish 
fjords.  The  rocks,  smoothed  into  flowing  lines,  slip  sharply 
and  cleanly  into  the  water,  and  are  well  grooved  and 
striated.  Moreover,  it  was  easy  to  see  that  the  ice  which 
had  graven  these  lines  must  have  moved  down  the  fjord, 
for  the  lee  or  rougher  side  of  the  crags  looks  seawards.  It 
was  likewise  clear  that  the  scorings  were  not  the  work  of 
drifting  bergs  or  coast  ice,  for  they  could  often  be  seen 
mounting  over  projecting  parts  of  the  banks,  yet  retaining 
all  the  while  their  sharpness,  parallelism,  and  persistent 
trend.  Another  point  of  similarity  to  West  Highland 
scenery  was  found  in  the  strange  scarcity  or  absence  of 
drift  and  boulders.  I  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  these 
are  not  to  be  met  with  at  all,  but  they  do  not  exist  so 
prominently  as  to  catch  the  eye  even  of  one  who  is  on  the 
outlook  for  them.  The  rock  everywhere  raises  its  bare 
knolls  to  the  sun  as  it  does  on  the  coasts  of  Inverness  and 
Argyll.  To  complete  the  resemblance,  the  Norwegian  fjord 
has  its  sides  marked  by  the  line  of  a  former  sea-margin, 
about  250  feet  above  the  present.  This  terrace  winds  out 
and  in  among  all  the  ramifications  and  curves  of  the  fjord, 
remaining  fresher  and  more  distinct  than  the  raised  beaches 
of  the  West  Highlands  usually  are,  and  even  rivalling  one 
of  the  parallel  roads  of'Lochaber. 

We  rested  for  a  week  at  the  hamlet  of  Fondalen,  on 


to 

£ 


120  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

the  south  side  of  the  Holands  Fjord.  It  stands  at  the 
mouth  of  a  deep  narrow  valley  on  the  line  of  the  terrace, 
which  here  runs  along  the  crest  of  a  steep  bank  of  rubbish 
covered  with  enormous  blocks  of  rock — an  old  moraine 
thrown  across  the  end  of  the  valley.  There  seems  to  have 
been  at  one  time  a  lake  behind  this  bank,  formed  by  the 
ponding  back  of  the  drainage  of  the  valley,  and  gradually 
emptied  as  the  outflow -stream  deepened  its  channel 
through  the  moraine.  At  the  head  of  the  valley  a  small 
glacier  descends  from  the  snow-field  of  Svartisen.  There 
could  be  no  better  locality  for  studying  the  gradual  dimi- 
nution of  the  glaciers,  and  for  learning  that  it  was  land- 
ice  that  filled  the  Norwegian  fjords,  overrode  the  lower 
hills,  and  went  out  boldly  into  the  Atlantic  and  Arctic  Sea. 
The  Holands  Fjord  runs,  as  I  have  said,  approximately 
east  and  west,  and  this  short  narrow  valley  descends  from 
the  south.  The  fjord  was  formerly  filled  with  ice,  and  is 
therefore  polished  and  striated  along  the  line  of  its  main 
trend.  The  valley  of  Fondalen  was  likewise  filled  with  ice, 
moving  down  to  join  the  mass  in  the  fjord ;  and  its  rocks, 
too,  are  striated  in  the  length  of  the  valley,  or  from  south 
to  north.  The  moraine  of  Fondalen  is  a  proof  that  a 
glacier  once  descended  to  the  Holands  Fjord  at  that  point. 
Further  evidence  is  found  in  the  fact,  that  the  sides  of  the 
valley  are  ground  and  striated  for  700  feet  and  more  above 
its  bottom.  Moreover,  these  polished  and  scored  rocks 
can  be  traced  up  to  and  underneath  the  glacier.  I  crept 
for  some  yards  under  the  ice,  and  found  the  floor  of  gneiss 
on  which  it  rested  smoothly  polished  and  covered  with 
scorings  of  all  sizes,  exactly  the  same  in  every  respect 
as  those  high  on  the  sides  of  the  valley,  in  the  fjord 
below,  and  away  on  the  outer  islands  and  skerries.  Ovei 
this  polished  surface  trickled  the  water  of  the  melted 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.      121 

ice,  washing  out   sand   and  small  stones  from  under  the 
glacier. 

We  climbed  the  steep  eastern  side  of  the  valley  above 
the  foot  of  the  glacier,  and  found  the  hummocks  of  gneiss 
wonderfully  glaciated  up  to  a  height  of  fully  700  feet.  The 
gnarled  crystalline  rock  has  been  ground  away  smoothly 
and  sharply,  so  as  to  show  its  twisted  foliation  as  well  as 
the  patterns  of  a  marble  are  displayed  on  a  polished  chimney- 
piece.  Even  vertical  or  overhanging  faces  of  rock  are 
equally  smoothed  and  striated.  Many  of  the  roches  moii- 
tonnees  are  loaded  with  perched  blocks  of  all  sizes,  up  to 


Fig.  10. — Longitudinal  Section  of  smaller  Glacier.      Fondalen. 

masses  30  or  40  feet  long.  Above  the  limit  to  which  we 
traced  the  work  of  the  ice  the  rocks  begin  to  wear  a  more 
rugged  surface,  until  along  the  summit  of  the  ridges  they 
rise  into  serrated  crests  and  pinnacles.  This  rougher  out- 
line is  of  course  the  result  of  atmospheric  waste,  guided  by 
the  geological  structure  and  chemical  composition  of  the 
rocks. 

The  glacier  descends  from  the  snow-field,  which  we 
guessed  to  have  there  an  elevation  of  about  3500  feet,  to 
a  point  in  the  valley  about  400  feet  above  the  sea.  The 


122  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

distance  from  the  snow-field  to  the  foot  of  the  glacier  looks 
not  much  more  than  one  English  mile — at  least  it  is  but  short 
compared  with  the  rapidity  of  descent.  Hence  the  glacier 
is  steep,  and  in  some  places  much  crevassed.  Issuing  from 
the  upper  snow  in  a  steep,  broken,  and  jagged  slope  of  blue 
ice,  it  descends  by  a  series  of  steps,  till,  getting  compacted 
again  in  the  valley  below,  it  passes  into  a  solid,  firm  glacier, 
with  a  tolerably  smooth  surface,  forming  a  declivity  of  1 2° 
or  15°  (Fig.  10).  At  a  point  about  half  a  mile  or  less 
from  the  foot  of  the  glacier  the  valley  suddenly  contracts, 
and  the  glacier,  much  narrowed  and  compressed,  tumbles 
over  a  second  steep  declivity  in  a  mass  of  broken  ice.  The 
crevasses  speedily  unite,  and  after  another  descent  of  300 
or  400  yards  at  an  angle  of  25°,  the  glacier  comes  to  an 
end.  At  the  point  where  the  strangulation  takes  place 
the  glacier  lies  in  a  kind  of  basin,  of  which  the  lower  lip 
presents  proofs  of  the  most  intense  erosion.  On  the 
western  bank,  in  particular,  a  mass  of  the  mountain  side 
which  projects  into  the  ice  has  been  ground  away,  and 
shows  plainly  enough,  by  its  form  and  striae,  that  the  glacier, 
ascending  from  the  basin,  has  climbed  up  and  over  this 
barrier,  so  as  to  tumble  down  its  northern  or  seaward  side. 

The  course  of  this  little  glacier  is  now  too  short  to 
admit  of  the  formation  of  moraines.  Yet  there  are  large 
heaps  of  rubbish  and  enormous  masses  of  rock  scattered 
over  the  valley  below ;  and  the  moraine  at  Fondalen  is  a 
further  proof  that,  when  the  ice  formerly  filled  the  valley, 
its  surface  received  abundant  detritus  from  the  mountain 
slopes  on  either  side. 

Opposite  Fondalen,  the  Holands  Fjord,  passing  through 
a  deep  and  narrow  channel  on  its  northern  bank,  trends  in 
an  east-north-easterly  direction ;  but  just  before  taking  this 
course  it  sends  eastward  a  bay  which  terminates  at  the 


Fig.  ii. — Sketch-map  of  lower  and  of  larger  Glacier.     Fondalen. 

i.  Holands  Fjord.  2.  Small  lake  at  end  of  glacier.  3.  Glacier.  4.  Alluvial 
plain  rising  into  moraine  mounds  as  it  approaches  the  foot  of  the  glacier.  5.  Line  of 
marine  terrace  or  "raised  beach,"  about  250  feet  above  sea-level.  6.  Present  course 
of  stream.  7.  Old  course  of  stream. 


124 


GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES. 


[VI 


mouth  of  a  valley  about  a  mile  above  the  hamlet.  This 
valley  is  considerably  larger  than  that  just  described,  and  it 
is  occupied  by  a  much  longer  and  larger  glacier.  To  one 
who  looks  up  the  valley  from  the  opposite  side  of  the  fjord, 
it  seems  as  if  the  ample  glacier  which  fills  up  the  bottom 
sweeps  down  from  the  snow-field  in  a  rapid  descent  to  the 
very  edge  of  the  sea  (Fig.  9).  On  a  visit  to  the  locality, 
however,  it  is  found  that  between  the  foot  of  the  glacier 
and  the  sea -margin  there  lies  a  plain  of  shingle  and  allu- 
vium, partly  covered  with  a  brushwood  of  birch,  and  partly 


Fig.  12. — Sections  across  the  lower  end  of  the  larger  Glacier. 
Fondalen. 

In  the  upper  section,  the  glacier  is  shown  overriding  its  moraine  ;  in  the  lower, 
the  small  lake  with  floating  ice  intervenes  between  the  end  of  the  glacier  and  the 
moraine.  In  each  section-marks  the  level  of  the  fjord. 

with  a  scanty  pasturage  (Fig.  1 1).  Near  the  ice  the  ground 
rises  into  ridges  and  hummocks,  which  increase  in  size 
towards  the  glacier.  These  are  true  moraine  mounds, 
rising  often  60  or  70  feet  above  their  base,  consisting  of 
earth  and  stones,  and  strewn  with  large  blocks  of  gneiss, 
porphyry,  limestone,  and  other  crystalline  rocks.  About  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  margin  of  the  fjord,  along  the 
eastern  half  of  the  breadth  of  the  valley,  these  mounds 
come  in  contact  with  the  foot  of  the  glacier,  which  is  there 
pushed  in  a  long  tongue  down  the  valley.  The  ice  over- 


vi]    OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.      125 

rides  the  moraine  heaps,  ploughing  them  and  pushing  them 
over  (Fig.  12).  On  the  west  side  of  this  prolongation  of 
the  glacier  the  ice  is  separated  from  the  moraine  mound  by 
a  small  lake,  of  which  the  surplus  waters  find  their  way  sea- 
ward by  cutting  through  the  moraine.  Like  many  lakes 
still  existing  in  Britain,  this  sheet  of  water  is  formed  by  the 
dam  of  rubbish  thrown  down  by  the  glacier  across  the 
valley.  It  is  full  of  fragments  of  ice,  which  break  off  from 
the  parent  mass,  and  float  across  to  the  north  or  lower  side, 
where  they  strand  on  the  moraine  heaps,  and  gradually 
melt  away.  The  smaller  pieces,  however,  often  find  their 
way  into  the  stream  by  which  the  lake  discharges  itself, 
and  are  then  carried  down  into  the  fjord.  From  the  mean 
of  several  observations  taken  with  the  aneroid,  I  estimated 
the  surface  of  this  lake  to  be  about  25  feet  above  the  level 
of  high  water  in  the  ijord.  We  had  no  means  of  measur- 
ing its  depth,  yet,  from  the  slope  of  the  glacier,  it  may  be 
inferred  that  the  bottom  of  the  ice  is  probably  lower  than 
the  level  of  the  sea. 

Proofs  that  the  glacier  was  once  much  larger  than  it  is 
now  may  be  well  seen  on  the  west  side  of  the  valley,  a 
little  above  the  lake.  The  shelving  slopes  of  the  mountain 
for  several  hundred  feet  upward  have  been  shorn  smooth, 
grooved,  and  striated,  and  every  polished  hummock  of  rock 
is  loaded  with  huge  fragments  of  stone  and  heaps  of  earth 
and  angular  rubbish.  Here,  as  at  every  glacier  we  visited, 
the  glaciation  of  the  rocks,  down  to  the  minutest  detail,  was 
exactly  similar  to  that  of  the  coast  and  outer  islets,  as  well 
as  to  that  of  the  Scottish  glens  and  sea-lochs. 

But  the  feature  which  most  interested  us  was  the  rela- 
tion of  this  large  glacier  of  Fondalen  to  the  marine  deposits 
of  the  locality.  The  foregoing  sketch-map  (Fig.  n)  shows 
that  the  high  terrace  so  marked  along  the  sides  of  the 


126  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

Holands  Fjord  enters  this  valley,  and  extends  on  the 
mountain  sides,  as  far  as,  at  least,  the  foot  of  the  glacier. 
Hence  the  gravelly  plain  and  the  moraine  mounds  that 
separate  the  glacier  from  the  fjord  are  overlooked  on  either 
side  by  a  raised  sea-beach.  In  examining  attentively  the 
nature  of  the  material  of  which  the  mounds  nearest  the 
glacier  were  composed,  we  were  struck  with  the  difference 
between  it  and  the  loose,  coarse  character  of  the  ordinary 
moraine  rubbish,  and  its  resemblance  to  the  upper  boulder- 
clay  of  Scotland.  The  glacier  is  pushing  great  noses  of  ice 
into  and  over  these  mounds,  so  that  freshly-exposed  sections 
are  abundant.  The  deposit  is  a  loose  sandy  clay  or  earth 
full  of  stones,  among  which  the  percentage  of  striated 
specimens  is  not  large.  The  larger  blocks  of  gneiss  and 
schist  appeared  to  us  not  to  occur  in  this  clay,  but  to  be 
tumbled  down  upon  it  from  the  surface  of  the  glacier.  We 
had  hardly  begun  to  look  over  a  surface  of  the  clay  ere  we 
found  fragments  of  shells,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few 
minutes  we  picked  up  several  handfuls,  chiefly  of  broken 
pieces  of  Cyprina  Islandica,  but  including  also  single  valves 
of  Astarte  compressa,  etc.  We  even  took  out  two  or  three 
fragments  which  were  sticking  in  the  ice  of  the  glacier. 
These  shells  were  not  peculiar  to  one  spot,  but  occurred 
more  or  less  abundantly  across  the  valley. 

From  the  nature  of  the  material  of  which  these  mounds 
consist,  and  from  the  occurrence  of  marine  shells,  it  was 
evident  that  we  were  looking  not  merely  upon  ordinary 
moraine  heaps — the  detritus  carried  down  on  the  surface 
of  the  ice  and  discharged  upon  the  bottom  of  the  valley 
The  glacier  was  engaged  in  ploughing  up  the  marine  sedi- 
ment which  had  been  formerly  deposited  upon  the  sub- 
merged floor  of  the  valley,  and  on  the  heaps  of  earth  and 
clay  now  torn  up  were  thrown  the  gravel  and  blocks  brought 


vi]    OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.      127 

down  by  the  present  glacier.  In  short,  we  saw  here  actually 
at  work  a  process  of  excavation,  by  which  it  had  been  con- 
jectured that  the  marine  drift  was  removed  from  certain 
valleys  in  the  British  Isles.1 

We  made  two  attempts,  both  unsuccessful,  to  climb  to 
the  vast  tableland  of  snow  from  which  these  glaciers  are 
fed.  But  we  succeeded  in  reaching  a  point  from  which  a 
good  view  of  the  seemingly  boundless  undulating  plain  of 
smooth  snow  could  be  obtained.  We  ascended  the  ridge 
that  separates  the  two  glacier  valleys  just  described.  After 
leaving  the  raised  beach  of  Fondalen,  with  its  massive 
erratics,  we  climbed  a  steep  slope,  clothed  with  a  thick 
brushwood  of  birch,  mountain -ash,  and  dwarf- willow,  and 
luxuriant  masses  of  ferns,  bilberries,  cloudberries,  juniper, 
rock-geranium,  lychnis,  etc.  The  beech  trees  are  often  a 
foot  or  a  foot  and  a  half  in  diameter  at  the  base,  and  are 
the  building  material  used  at  the  hamlet  of  Fondalen  below. 
These  trees,  at  the  height  of  1320  above  the  sea,  still  often 
measure  a  foot  across  near  the  root,  and  15  or  20  feet  in 
height.  At  this  height,  and  even  considerably  lower,  there 
were  large  sheets  of  snow  on  the  i2th  of  July,  and  these 
increased  in  number  and  depth  as  we  ascended.  The 
birch  trees  grow  smaller  and  more  stunted  as  they  struggle 
up  the  bare  mountain  ridge,  until  they  become  mere  bushes. 
The  willows,  in  like  manner,  dwindle  down  till  they  look  like 
straggling  tufts  of  heather,  though  still  bearing  their  full- 
formed  catkins.  At  a  height  of  1690  feet,  these  stunted 
bushes  at  last  give  place  to  a  scrub  of  bilberry,  mosses,  and 
lycopods.  The  mountain  consists  of  gneiss,  sometimes 
massive  and  jointed,  sometimes  fissile  and  flaggy,  with  a 
strike  towards  W.,  15°  S.  The  extent  to  which  the  higher 

1  See  Sir  A.  C.  Ramsay,  Glaciers  of  Switzerland  and  Wales,  2d 
edition,  p.  60. 


128  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

rocky  scarps  have  suffered  from  the  disintegrating  effects  of 
the  weather  arrests  attention  ;  for  the  gneiss  is  split  up  along 
its  joints  into  large  blocks,  which  lie  piled  upon  each  other 
in  heaps  of  angular  ruin.  We  noticed  one  or  two  masses, 
differing  in  lithological  character  from  the  rocks  around, 
and  possibly  ice-borne  from  some  of  the  neighbouring 
eminences.  On  reaching  a  point  2700  feet  above  the 
fjord,  our  farther  passage  was  arrested  by  a  narrow,  shat- 
tered, knife-edge  of  gneiss,  along  which,  without  suitable 
climbing  gear,  it  was  impossible  to  advance.  But  from  this 
elevated  point  we  could  judge  of  the  general  aspect  of  the 
great  snowy  tableland  of  the  Svartisen,  which  was  sloping 
towards  us,  while  the  two  glaciers  were  spread  out  in  plan 
beneath. 

The  branch  of  the  Holands  Fjord  which,  opposite  to 
the  hamlet  of  Fondalen,  strikes  off  to  the  north-east  for 
seven  or  eight  miles,  is  bordered  on  the  south  side,  and 
closed  in  at  its  farther  end,  by  a  range  of  steep,  almost 
precipitous,  walls  of  rock,  the  summits  of  which  are  on  a 
level  with,  and  indeed  form  part  of  the  great  tableland. 
Here,  as  in  so  many  other  parts  of  Norway,  we  are  reminded 
that  the  fjords  are,  after  all,  mere  long  sinuous  trenches,  dug 
deeply  out  of  the  edge  of  a  series  of  elevated  plateaux.  And, 
looking  up  to  the  crest  of  these  dark  precipices,  we  see  the 
edge  of  the  high  snow-plain  peering  over,  and  sending  a 
stream  of  blue  glacier  ice  down  every  available  hollow.  We 
counted  seven  of  these  tiny  glaciers,  exuding  from  under 
the  snow,  and  creeping  downward  under  the  sombre  cliffs 
of  gneiss.  Not  one  of  them  comes  much  below  the  snow- 
line,  and  none,  of  course,  reaches  the  sea.  The  largest  of 
them  is  near  the  end  of  the  fjord,  and  appears  as  a  broken, 
crevassed  mass  of  ice,  moulded  as  it  were  over  the  steep 
hillside,  and,  when  seen  from  below,  seeming  about  to  slip 


vi]    OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.      129 

off  and  plunge  into  the  fjord.  Fragments  of  it  are  continu- 
ally breaking  away,  and  rolling,  with  the  noise  of  thunder 
and  clouds  of  icy  dust,  down  the  shelving  sides  of  the 
mountains.  These  glaciers  are,  for  the  most  part,  continu- 
ous with  the  snow-field,  of  which  they  are  the  icy  drainage. 
One  or  two,  however,  lie  in  corries,  quite  detached  from  the 
main  snow-field,  though  connected  with  it  by  continuous 
snow  in  winter. 

The  bright  sunny  Arctic  nights  led  us  not  unfrequently 
and  almost  unconsciously  to  prolong  the  work  of  one  day 
into  the  next.  Once,  at  midnight,  while  sketching  at  Fon- 
dalen,  I  was  amused  by  the  loud  and  persistent  call  of  a 
cuckoo  perched  on  one  of  the  neighbouring  trees.  The 
native  non-migratory  birds  are  evidently  used  to  the  ways 
of  the  sun  in  the  Arctic  summer,  and,  like  the  human 
population,  know  when  to  go  to  rest.  But  the  tourist 
cuckoo  was  evidently  quite  unaware  of  the  lateness  of  the 
hour,  and  continued  his  "  twofold  shout "  as  lustily  as  if  it 
had  been  midday. 

We  left  this  delightful  fjord  not  without  regret,  and 
catching  again  the  coasting  steamer  at  Melovaer,  proceeded 
northwards.  Between  Melovaer  and  Bodo,  the  higher 
mountains  have  wonderfully  craggy  and  spiry  outlines,  only 
their  lower  parts  showing  the  smoothed  contour  of  glacia- 
tion.  But  where  the  coast  hills  sink,  as  towards  a  fjord 
or  bay,  the  ice-moulded  forms  can  be  traced  to  a  greater 
height.  To  the  north  of  Bodo,  the  contrast  between  the 
sharp  weather-worn  peaks  above  and  the  flowing  ice-worn 
hummocks  and  hillsides  below  is  singularly  startling. 
Principal  Forbes,  who  gave  a  characteristically  faithful 
drawing  to  illustrate  this  feature,  places  the  upper  limit  of 
glaciation  at  from  1500  to  2000  feet.1  We  should  have 
1  Norway  and  its  Glaciers,  p.  58. 
K 


130  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [\\ 

estimated  it  to  be  considerably  lower.  Through  narrow 
kyles  and  intricate  sounds,  reminding  one  at  every  turn  of 
detached  portions  of  West  Highland  or  Hebridean  scenery, 
the  steamer  slowly  wound  its  way,  and  then  across  the  Vest 
Fjord  to  the  Lofodden  Islands.  The  weather  now  unior- 
tunately  proved  unfavourable  for  geological  observation.  In 
sailing  through  the  Rafte  Sund  we  saw  what  looked  like 
moraines  at  the  mouths  of  some  of  the  valleys,  and  the 
lines  of  moraine  terraces  continued  as  marked  as  ever. 
Rocks  well  ice-worn  were  also  observed  at  the  openings  of 
some  of  the  valleys,  but  we  were  rather  impressed  with  the 
general  ruggedness  and  absence  of  glaciation  among  the 
Lofoddens. 

To  the  north  of  Tromso  lies  the  island  of  Ringvatsd, 
noticed  by  Mr.  R.  Chambers.1  The  moraine  which  he 
describes  as  damming  up  the  circular  sheet  of  water,  whence 
the  island  takes  its  name,  really  coincides  with  the  line  of 
the  higher  of  the  two  strongly-marked  terraces  or  sea-margins 
of  this  part  of  the  Norwegian  coast.  It  thus  illustrates  the 
history  of  the  moraine  and  terrace,  below  the  smaller  glacier 
at  Fondalen.  It  was  further  interesting  to  mark  that  the 
glacier  at  Ringvatso,  partially  hidden  under  snow,  lies  in  a 
hollow  or  corry  surrounded  with  precipices,  and  quite  cut 
off  from  any  snow-field.  The  accumulation  of  snow  in  the 
corry  itself  must  thus  be  sufficient  to  give  rise  to  the  glacier. 
In  looking  at  this  island,  I  was  forcibly  reminded  of  the 
history  of  the  glaciers  of  Tweedsmuir  and  Loch  Skene  in 
Peeblesshire  and  other  old  glacier  grounds  in  Scotland, 
where,  on  dimples  of  the  hill-tops,  and  in  deep  cliff-encircled 
recesses,  snow  enough  gathered  to  form  streams  of  ice, 
which  caught  and  carried  on  their  surface  piles  of  rubbish 
and  huge  blocks  of  rock.  A  large  snow-field  is  not  neces- 
1  Tracings  of  the  North  of  Europe,  p.  145. 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.     131 

sary  for  the  production  of  a  glacier  that  may  form  compara- 
tively extensive  moraines.1 

The  south-western  side  of  the  Lyngen  Fjord  is  formed 
by  a  mass  of  high  ground,  which  shoots  up  steeply  from 
the  sea  to  a  height  of  4000  feet  or  more.  Every  hollow 
and  cliff  is  smothered  with  snow,  which  descends  in  strag- 
gling streaks  and  patches  almost  to  the  edge  of  the  water. 
We  sailed  up  the  fjord  for  some  miles,  and  had  a  full  view 
of  this  truly  magnificent  coast-line.  We  counted  from  ten 
to  twelve  small  glaciers  nestling  in  separate  corries,  and 
also  two  or  three  on  the  north-eastern  side.  There  was 
here  the  same  evidence  of  the  formation  of  glaciers  in  small 
independent  hollows  of  the  mountains,  quite  detatched,  at 
least  in  the  summer,  from  any  large  snow-field. 

We  halted  at  the  island  of  Skjaervo  (lat.  70°)  for  the 
purpose  of  making  an  excursion  across  the  Kvenangen 
Fjord  and  up  the  Jokuls  Fjord,  to  see  the  glacier  which 
was  said  to  reach  the  level  of  the  sea2  (Fig.  13).  The 
metamorphic  rocks  among  which  the  Jokuls  Fjord  lies  are 

1  North  Wales  presents  a  number  of  illustrations  of  this  remark, 
such  as  Cwm  Graianog,   Cwm  Idwal,   etc.  (see  Sir  A.  C.   Ramsay's 
Glaciers  of  North  Wales}. 

2  This  glacier  was  noticed  by  Von  Buch,  and  is  mentioned  by 
Principal  Forbes.     When  we  visited  it,  I  was  not  aware  that  a  brief 
account  of  it  had  been  given  in  vol.  ii.  of  Peaks,  Passes,  and  Glaciers, 
second  series.      Mr.  J.  F.  Hardy,  the  writer  of  that  description,  started 
overland  from  Talvik  on  the  Alten  Fjord,  and  reached  the  Jokuls  Fjord 
below  the  glacier,  to  which  he  ascended  by  boat.      Like  my  own  party, 
he  did  not  climb  the  glacier,  but  he  seems  to  have  regarded  it  as  con- 
nected with  the  snow- field  above.     Though  I  did  not  succeed  in  ascend- 
ing the  rugged  cliffs,  I  had  no  doubt  that  the  lower  glacier,  irom  its 
colour  and  the  steepness  and  contraction  of  the  gorge  above  it,  is  a 
true  glacier  remanie,  and  like  the  Suphelle  glacier  described  by  Forbes 
(Norway  and  its  Glaciers,  p.  149),  is  quite  disconnected,   at  least  in 
summer,  from  the  snow-fields  above. 


132 


GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES. 


[VI 


for  the  most  part  of  a  flaggy  quartzose  character.  Some- 
times, especially  where  most  fissile,  they  are  violently 
crumpled.  Parts  of  them  pass  into  hornblende  rock  and 
actinolite  schist. 


Their  average  strike  is  on  an  east  and 


Fig.   13. — Map  of  the  Jokuls  Fjeld  promontory  (after  Munch), 
arrows  show  the  direction  of  the  old  ice  strias. 


The 


west  line.  They  are  much  jointed,  and  yield  freely  to  the 
action  of  the  weather.  Hence,  a  rough  and  angular  surface 
has  very  generally  replaced  the  ice-moulded  outlines,  though 
these  instill  here  and  there  remain.  Numerous  ancient  mare 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.     133 

terraces,  especially  the  same  two  prominent  ones  already 
mentioned,  may  be  traced  along  the  sides  of  the  Jokuls 
Fjord.  The  lower  of  these  runs  at  a  level  of  about  60  feet, 
the  higher  at  about  152  feet  (aneroid  measurement)  above 
high- water  mark.  The  upper  is  especially  marked,  often 
running  as  a  shelf  cut  out  of  the  rock.  This  feature  was 
noticed  along  many  parts  of  the  Norwegian  coast,  even  (as 
in  the  Jokuls  Fjord)  in  sheltered  places  where  wave  action 
cannot  be  supposed  ever  to  have  been  very  strong.  As 
the  date  of  these  rock-terraces  probably  goes  back  into  the 
glacial  period,  it  occurred  to  me  that  they  may  have  been 
due  in  large  measure  to  the  effects  of  the  freezings  and 
thawings  along  the  old  "  ice-foot,"  and  to  the  rasping  and 
grating  of  coast  ice.  Such,  too,  may  have  been  the  origin 
of  the  higher  horizontal  rock-terraces  of  Scotland. 

At  the  head  of  the  fjord  the  terraces  disappear  along 
the  steep  bare  sides  of  the  mountains.  A  moraine  mound 
of  loose  rubbish  and  large  blocks  lies  on  the  west  side,  and 
extends  a  little  way  into  the  fjord,  pointing  towards  a  similar 
ridge  on  the  opposite  side,  as  if  both  were  parts  of  a  curved 
terminal  moraine.  The  view  from  this  ridge  is  singularly 
imposing.  The  sombre,  precipitous  mountains  sweep  up- 
ward from  the  edge  of  the  water,  seamed  everywhere  with 
streaks  and  sheets  of  snow.  Down  even  to  the  beach  these 
snow-drifts  lie ;  and  it  gives  a  vivid  impression  of  the  high 
'atitude  of  the  place,  that  even  in  July  there  should  be  deep 
masses  of  snow  overhanging  tangle -cove red  rocks,  and 
undermined  by  the  wash  of  the  waves.  Over  the  crest  of 
'die  mountains,  at  the  head  of  the  fjord,  we  see  the  edge  of 
the  great  snow-field  of  the  Jokuls  Fjeld,  and  stealing  down 
from  underneath  the  snow  comes  a  broken,  shattered  mass 
of  glacier  ice,  broadest  at  the  top,  and  narrowing  downwards 
till  its  point  disappears  in  a  deep  cleft  or  ravine,  perhaps  a 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.     135 

third  of  the  way  down  from  the  surface  of  the  snow-field  to 
the  sea.  The  eastern  part  of  this  glacier  seems  plastered, 
as  it  were,  over  the  forehead  of  the  mountain,  and  is  ever 
sending  off  fragments  down  the  dark  precipice  below. 
Indeed,  the  whole  glacier  is  in  constant  commotion,  crack- 
ing and  crashing  and  discharging  masses  of  ice  and  snow, 
which  pour  over  the  black  rocks  in  sheets  of  white  dust, 
with  a  noise  like  the  unintermitted  thunder  of  a  battle. 
These  ice-falls  are  in  large  measure  intercepted  at  the  point 
where  the  glacier  disappears  behind  the  side  of  the  ravine. 
They  seemed,  indeed,  to  collect  in  the  ravine,  and  to  slide 
down  through  it;  for  at  its  lower  end  a  second  glacier 
begins,  and  expands  with  the  expansion  of  the  hollow  in 
which  it  lies,  till  it  reaches  the  edge  of  the  fjord,  where  it 
may  be  a  quarter  of  a  mile  broad.  This  lower  glacier 
appeared  to  me  not  connected  with  the  snow-field,  but  a 
true  glacier  remanie.,  deriving  its  materials  entirely  from  the 
avalanches  of  snow  and  ice  that  pour  down  upon  its  surface 
from  the  precipices  overhead.  It  has  a  white,  or  dull 
greenish  white  colour,  varied  with  well-marked  dirt-bands. 
The  slope  of  its  surface  was  judged  to  be  fully  20°  or  25°. 
A  few  longitudinal  crevasses  make  their  appearance  along 
the  middle  of  the  glacier,  and  a  little  farther  down  the  trans- 
verse crevasses  increase  in  number  and  size,  until  at  its  foot 
the  glacier,  broken  by  large  semicircular  rents,  becomes  a 
tumbled  mass  of  ruin.  These  cliffs  of  granular  loose-textured 
ice  were  observed  in  some  places  to  overhang  the  waves. 
But  the  dark  rock  was  likewise  seen  peering  out  along  the 
water's  edge,  underneath  the  ice,  which  does  not  push  its 
way  out  to  sea  in  a  mass,  but  ends  abruptly  where  it  meets 
the  water.  From  these  icy  walls  small  fragments  and  large 
slices  break  off,  and  fall  either  on  the  margin  of  rock  or 
into  the  fjord,  which  is  thus  covered  with  hundreds  of 


136 


GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES. 


[VI 


miniature  icebergs,  slowly  drifted  downwards  against  wind 
and  tide,  by  the  surface  current  of  fresh  water  (Fig.  15). 
This  process  is  called  "calving"  by  the  natives,  and  so 
great  is  the  commotion  sometimes  produced  that,  according 
to  the  information  collected  by  Von  Buch,  the  Lapp  huts 
along  the  margin  of  the  fjord  are  sometimes  inundated 
by  the  waves  propagated  outwards  from  the  falling  masses. 
The  floating  fragments  of  ice  look  like  little  models  of 
Arctic  bergs,  with  forms  often  singularly  fantastic.  They 
may  be  seen  shifting  their  position,  and  even  capsizing, 
as  their  submerged  parts  melt  away ;  some  of  them  carry 
stones  and  earth  on  their  surface,  while  many,  aground 


Fig.   15. — Section  of  Foot  of  Jokuls  Fjord  Glacier. 

along  the  margin  of  the  fjord,  rise  and  fall  with  the  tide  or 
with  the  ripple  of  the  waves.  We  passed  two  or  three 
which  were  from  8  to  10  feet  long,  and  rose  from  3  to  4 
feet  out  of  the  fjord.  Our  boat  grated  against  several 
which  seemed  only  a  foot  or  two  in  size,  yet  the  shock  of 
the  collision  showed  how  much  larger  was  the  portion 
concealed  under  water. 

To  the  east  of  the  upper  glacier  the  snow-field  sends 
another  icy  stream  down  the  face  of  the  shelving  precipices 
which  descend  into  -a  higher  valley.  We  could  hear  the 
roar  of  the  avalanches  even  when  the  glacier  itself  was 
hidden  behind  the  intervening  mountain-spur.  From  the 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.     137 

rocky  declivities  of  the  Jokuls  Fjord  also  stones  were  heard 
and  seen  bounding  from  point  to  point  in  their  descent 
towards  the  long  heaps  of  debris  at  the  bottom.  In  short, 
in  this  lonely  uninhabited  spot,  the  activity  and  ceaseless- 
ness  of  the  wasting  powers  of  nature  come  before  the 
traveller  with  a  memorable  impressiveness.  The  wide 
snow-field  that  seems  to  lie  so  sluggish  and  still  among  the 
distant  mists,  is  yet  seen  to  be  in  slow  but  constant  motion, 
pushing  its  ice-streams  towards  the  valleys,  and  grinding 
down  the  hard  rocks  over  which  it  moves.  Frosts,  rain,  and 
springs  have  scarped  the  shoulders  of  every  mountain,  and 
poured  long  trains  of  rubbish  down  its  sides.  And  if  this 
can  be  now  done  under  the  present  climate  of  Norway,  how 
much  more  powerful  must  the  abrasion  have  been  when 
the  ice,  in  place  of  being  arrested  on  the  brow  of  the 
mountain,  filled  up  the  fjord,  and  pushed  its  way  into  the 
Arctic  Sea  ! 

From  the  open  mouth  of  the  Kvenangs  Fjord,  in  the 
passage  between  Skjaervo  and  the  Jokul,  the  outline  of  the 
neighbouring  land  is  well  seen.  The  steep,  serrated  ridge 
of  the  Kvenangs  Tinclerne  shows  its  tiny  glaciers  nestling 
in  corries  both  on  its  northern  and  southern  slopes.  The 
sides  of  the  Kvenangs  Fjord  are  ice-moulded  and  striated 
in  the  direction  of  the  inlet,  and  its  islands  are  only  large 
roches  moutonnees.  In  looking  back  at  the  mountainous 
track  of  the  Jokuls  Fjeld,  we  see  that  it  is  another  snowy 
tableland  jutting  out  as  a  promontory  into  the  Arctic  Sea, 
deeply  trenched  with  long,  narrow  fjords,  and  pushing 
glaciers  down  every  glen  and  hollow  that  descends  .from 
the  plateau  of  snow.  I  sketched  these  scenes  at  midnight, 
when  the  sun,  after  gathering  round  him  the  crimson  and 
orange  glories  of  his  setting,  lingers  along  the  northern 
horizon,  and  then  spreads  over  the  sky  the  tender  hues  of 


138  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

sunrise — a  blending  of  sunset  and   dawn  which  is  one  of 
the  most  memorable  experiences  of  travel  in  the  north. 

We  visited  the  north-western  and  northern  sides  of  this 
snow-field,  boating  up  the  Bergs  Fjord,  to  the  hamlet  of 
that  name,  and  after  ascending  to  its  glaciers,  continuing 
our  excursion  by  boat  into  the  Nus  Fjord.  (See  Map,  Fig. 
13.)  In  ascending  the  South  Bergs  Fjord,  we  found  the 
gneissic  and  schistose  rocks  polished  and  striated  from  east 
to  west,  which  is  the  direction  of  the  inlet,  and  in  turning 
into  the  North  Bergs  Fjord,  which  runs  nearly  at  a  right 
angle  to  the  other,  the  striae  were  seen  to  turn  out  of  the 
Lang  Fjord  and  bend  northward  through  the  northern  limb 
of  the  Bergs  Fjord.  At  the  hamlet  of  Bergsfjord  these  ice- 
mouldings  are  especially  well  shown,  and  there,  as  well  as 
along  many  parts  of  the  fjord,  occur  lines  of  rock-terrace, 
often  strewed  with  quantities  of  angular  blocks.  Two  of 
the  most  marked  of  these  horizontal  bars  have  an  elevation 
of  about  50  and  150  feet  respectively.  Behind  the  hamlet 
the  ground  slopes  up  to  a  point  about  250  feet  above  the 
sea,  beyond  which  lies  the  mouth  of  a  valley  that  runs  up 
into  the  heart  of  the  mountains.  We  climbed  the  terraced 
slope  leading  to  this  recess,  and  found  that  the  lower  half 
of  the  valley  is  occupied  by  a  lake  about  a  mile  long,  and 
said  to  be  30  fathoms  deep.  It  lies  in  a  rock  basin,  and 
the  rocks  around  its  margin  show  that  they  have  been 
powerfully  abraided  by  ice.  We  were  told  that  three  weeks 
before  our  visit  this  lake  was  solidly  frozen  over;  great 
sheets  of  snow,  indeed,  still  descended  to  the  water's  edge, 
and  were  melting  away  under  the  glare  of  a  fierce  July  sun. 
At  the  far  end  of  the  valley  mounds  of  angular  rubbish, 
cumbered  with  huge  blocks  of  stone,  stretched  from  side 
to  side,  while  overhead  two  glaciers  came  out  of  the  edge 
of  the  snow-field,  and  hung  down  the  steep  mountain  side 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.     139 

—the  longer  one  almost  reaching  the  bottom  of  the  valley. 
We  started  a  small  herd  of  reindeer  pasturing  among  the 
moraine  heaps.  The  animals  bounded  over  the  snow- 
wreaths,  always  choosing  the  firmest  portions  which  stretched 
as  natural  bridges  across  the  stream  that  worked  its  way 
underneath.  Here,  too,  the  ice  was  ever  breaking  up,  and 
crashing  down  the  precipices  in  clouds  of  snowy  dust. 
The  debris  of  ice  gathered  into  talus  heaps  below,  like  the 
cones  de  dejection  at  the  foot  of  a  winter  torrent. 

From  Bergsfjord  we  continued  our  boating  voyage 
down  the  fjord,  and  found  fresh  proofs  that  a  vast  body  of 
ice,  descending  from  the  lofty  Jokuls  Fjeld,  had  moved 
northwards  along  the  length  of  the  inlet.  Every  promontory 
was  beautifully  smoothed  and  polished ;  while  the  grooves 
and  striae  slanted  up  and  over  the  projecting  bosses  of  rock, 
as  they  do  in  Loch  Fyne  and  the  other  western  sea-lochs 
of  Scotland.  Round  the  headland  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Bergs  Fjord  we  turned  eastward,  and  soon  passed  the 
mouth  of  the  Ulfjord.  We  could  see  that,  at  the  far  end 
of  that  inlet,  the  snow  of  the  great  tableland  moves  out- 
ward to  the  edge  of  the  dark  precipices  which  encircle  the 
Ulfjord,  and  actually  forms  on  the  crest  of  these  precipices 
a  white  cliff,  from  which,  of  course,  avalanches  are  con- 
stantly falling.  Yet  the  under  part  of  this  snowy  cliff  is 
not  snow,  but  ice,  as  shown  by  its  blue  colour  contrasting 
with  the  whiteness  of  the.  upper  layer,  which  is  snow  or 
neve.  At  the  foot  of  the  precipice  a  glacier,  derived 
probably  in  part,  like  that  of  Jokuls  Fjord,  from  the  ice- 
falls  from  above,  creeps  towards,  but  does  not  reach,  the 
bottom  of  the  valley.  Continuing  our  eastward  journey, 
we  saw  the  same  terraces,  still  skirting  the  hillsides,  now  as 
green  platforms  of  detritus  loaded  with  angular  blocks,  and 
now  as  sharp  horizontal  notches  in  the  bare  rocks.  We 


140  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

were  likewise  struck  here,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  Norwegian 
coast,  with  the  greater  freshness  of  the  ice-markings  near  the 
sea-level,  when  compared  with  those  higher  up — a  difference 
which  is  likewise  very  noticeable  in  the  West  of  Scotland. 

An  incident  occurred  in  this  part  of  the  journey  which 
helped  to  strengthen  the  parallelism  I  had  been  tracing 
between  the  old  glacial  conditions  of  Scotland  and  those 
now  existing  in  Arctic  Norway.  In  one  of  the  hospitable 
and  solitary  merchants'  houses  I  found  a  little  girl  playing 
with  valves  of  the  red  Iceland  scallop  (Pecten  Islandiciis) 
or  "  rode  heste"  red  horses,  as  she  called  them.  They  were 
evidently  recent,  and  not  fossil  shells,  and  I  found  them 
strewn  plentifully  on  the  beach.  This  species  once  lived 
abundantly  among  the  western  fjords  of  Scotland,  and  its 
valves  are  there  plentiful  in  the  upraised  sea-floor  of  the 
glacial  period.  But  it  still  flourishes  in  the  fjords  of 
Norway. 

The  Nus  Fjord  is  about  six  miles  long,  and  lies  between 
the  Ulfjord  and  Oxfjord.  Its  margin  is  terraced  by  the 
same  horizontal  lines  so  constant  in  this  region.  Its  south- 
western side  presents  a  singularly  Arctic  scene.  A  range 
of  deeply  cleft  and  embayed  crags  and  precipices,  plenti- 
fully streaked  with  snow,  rises  up  to  the  edge  of  the  snow- 
field,  which,  as  usual,  sends  down  into  every  larger  valley 
a  stream  of  blue  ice.  Eight  or  ten  distinct  glaciers  may 
be  counted,  of  which  at  least  three  descend  from  the  snow- 
field.  The  others  lie  in  corries  detached  from  the  snow- 
field,  though  in  some  cases  connected  with  it  by  nearly 
perpendicular  streaks  of  snow.  Here,  as  in  the  Ulfjord, 
the  edge  of  the  great  sheet  of  snow  which  covers  the  table- 
land may  be  seen  ending  off  abruptly  as  a  cliff  upon  the 
crest  of  a  dark  precipice  of  rock,  and  from  the  colour  of 
the  lower  part  of  the  cliff  it  is  plain  that,  from  pressure  and 


to 

E 


142  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

motion,  the  under  portion  of  the  snow-sheet  is  converted 
into  ice,  and  as  ice  reaches  the  verge  of  the  tableland, 
where  it  breaks  sharply  off,  and  sends  its  ruins  to  the 
bottom  of  the  precipice  underneath.  There  the  debris, 
mingled  with  the  winter  snow,  is  anew  converted  into  solid 
ice,  and  creeps  downward  as  a  glacier. 

At  the  head  of  the  fjord,  on  the  south-east  side,  the 
mouth  of  a  valley  which  terminates  inland  at  the  foot  of  a 
glacier  is  blocked  up  by  an  old  moraine.  Behind  this 
rampart  of  detritus  the  valley  spreads  out  as  an  alluvial 
plain,  evidently  at  one  time  a  lake  formed  by  the  moraine 
barrier  at  the  foot.  The  moraine  itself  is  strewed  with 
enormous  angular  blocks  of  rock,  beside  which  the  huts 
of  a  miserable  Lapp  encampment  look  like  mere  pebbles. 
The  side  of  this  moraine  facing  the  fjord  is  cut  by  the  50 
foot  beach.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  fjord  a  valley,  at 
the  head  of  which  a  glacier  comes  down  from  the  Snee- 
fond,  opens  upon  the  shore,  and  is  curtained  across  by  a 
terrace,  the  surface  of  which  is  mottled  with  a  number  of 
irregular  concentric  mounds.  We  had  no  opportunity  of 
examining  these,  but  they  seemed  to  be  moraine  heaps  left 
by  the  glacier  when  it  came  down  to  the  fjord.  They 
vividly  recalled  the  singular  concentric  mounds  that  overlie 
the  terrace  at  the  mouth  of  the  old  glacier  valley  of  the 
Brora  in  Sutherlandshire. 

We  walked  along  the  north-east  side  of  the  fjord,  and 
found  the  rocky  declivity  terraced  with  old  sea-margins, 
which  run  along  like  ancient  and  ruined  roadways.  They 
occur  up  to  perhaps  200  or  250  feet  above  the  sea-level, 
and  are  cut  in  the  hard  rock.  They  are  covered  with  loose 
blocks,  partly  derived  from  the  rocks  around,  but  probably 
in  part  also  transported  from  a  higher  part  of  the  valley. 
On  the  beach  we  met  with  well  ice-worn  bosses  of  gneiss, 


vi]     OLD  GLACIERS  OF  NORWAY  AND  SCOTLAND.     143 

slipping  beneath  a  gray  sandy  clay  full  of  Arctic  shells — a 
conjunction  which  is  closely  paralleled  by  one  on  the  shores 
of  Loch  Fyne  (Figs.  17,  18).  Both  in  the  Norwegian  and 
Scottish  examples  the  rocks  underneath  are  beautifully 


Fig.    17.— -Section  on  beach  at  Nus  Fjord. 

d  Sandy-gray  clay,  with   Tcllina  proximo,,  Saxicava  rugosa,  Astarte  elliptica, 
Cyprina  Islandica,  etc.     a  Ice-worn  gneissose  rocks,     .y  High-water  mark. 

smoothed  and  grooved,  showing  that  in  each  case  the  ice 
which  moulded  them  moved  down  the  length  of  the  inlet. 
To  the  north  and  east  of  the  Jokuls  Fjeld  the  ground 
becomes  lower,  and  descends  wholly  below  the  snow-line. 


Fig.    1 8. — Section  on  beach  at  Ardmarnock,  Loch  Fyne. 

d  Sandy-gray  clay,  full  of  Tcllina  proximo,,  Astarte  borealis,  Natica  clausa, 
Cyprina  Islandica  (in  fragments  sometimes  seven-twelfths  of  an  inch  thick)  and 
other  northern  shells,  c  Finely  stratified  red  clay,  without  shells,  b  Boulder-clay. 
a  Ice-worn  gneissose  rocks,  .y  High-water  mark. 

The  hills  that  bound  the  Alten  Fjord,  instead  of  rising  into 
serrated  peaks,  like  the  higher  tracts  to  the  south,  have  a 
well  ice-worn  aspect,  and  recall  the  hills  of  Cantyre,  or  the 
scenery  of  parts  of  the  Hebrides.  Indeed,  the  whole  of 
this  northern  district  of  Norway,  from  the  Alten  Fjord  to 
beyond  the  North  Cape,  has  the  smoothed  outline  which 


144  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vi 

farther  southward  is  found  only  on  the  lower  zone  of  the 
mountains.1  It  seems  as  if  a  sheet  of  ice,  descending  from 
the  south,  had  overriden  all  the  fjords  here  and  the  com- 
paratively low  hills  between  them,  and  had  advanced  north- 
ward into  the  Arctic  Sea. 

In  fine,  this  short  excursion  into  the  northern  part  of 
Scandinavia  furnished  us  with  abundant  proofs  that  the 
glaciation  of  the  west  of  Norway  was  produced  by  a  mass 
of  land-ice,  of  which  the  present  glaciers  are  the  represent- 
atives. It  likewise  confirmed,  in  a  most  impressive  way, 
the  conclusion  which  has  gained  ground  so  rapidly  within 
the  last  few  years,  that  the  glaciation  of  the  Scottish  High- 
lands, as  well  as  of  the  rest  of  the  British  Isles,  is  in  the 
main  the  work,  not  of  floating  bergs,  but  of  land-ice.  This 
conclusion  may,  indeed,  be  regarded  as  demonstrated  be- 
yond all  cavil  by  the  ice-marks  of  Norway.  Much  good 
work  might  be  done  by  trying  to  work  out  a  detailed  com- 
parison of  the  glaciation  of  the  Scandinavian  peninsula 
with  that  of  this  country.  More  especially  would  it  be  of 
importance  to  ascertain  how  far  the  glacial  deposits  of 
the  two  countries  can  be  compared.  Doubtless  the  drift- 
covered  slopes  of  Sweden,  and  those  of  the  east  and  centre 
of  Scotland,  must  have  many  geological  features  in  com- 
mon. It  will  perhaps  be  found  that  some  of  the  difficulties 
which  our  Scottish  drift  presents  are  explained  by  the  more 
extensive  deposits  of  the  north,  while  the  latter  may  like- 
wise suggest  new  explanations  of  phenomena  supposed  to 
be  already  sufficiently  intelligible.2 

1  We  did  not  go  farther  than  Hammerfest,  but  the  same  contour 
is  retained  over  the  low,  tame  district  that  separates  Hammerfest  from 
the  North  Cape. 

2  Since  the  publication' of  this  pnpcr  in  January  1866,  much  labour 
has  been  bestowed  upon  the  glacial  phenomena  of  Scandinavia  and  of 
Scotland. 


vn]  A  FRAGMENT  OF  PRIMEVAL  EUROPE.  145 


VII. 
A  FRAGMENT  OF  PRIMEVAL  EUROPE.1 

WHEN  the  history  of  the  growth  of  the  European  area  is 
traced  backward  through  successive  geological  periods,  it 
brings  before  us  a  remarkable  persistence  of  land  towards 
the  north.  The  stratified  formations  bear  a  generally  con- 
current testimony  to  the  existence  of  a  northern  source 
whence  much  of  their  sediment  was  derived,  even  from 
very  early  geological  times.  In  their  piles  of  consolidated 
gravel,  sand,  and  mud,  their  unconformabilities  and  their 
buried  coast-lines,  they  tell  of  some  boreal  land  which, 
continually  suffering  denudation,  but  doubtless  at  intervals 
restored  and  augmented  by  upheaval,  has  gradually  ex- 
tended over  the  whole  of  the  present  European  area.  The 
chronicles  of  this  most  interesting  history  are  at  best  im- 
perfect, and  have  hitherto  been  only  partially  deciphered. 
They  naturally  assume  an  increasingly  fragmentary  and 
obscure  character  in  proportion  to  their  antiquity.  Never- 
theless traces  can  still  be  detected  of  the  shores  against 
which  the  oldest  known  sedimentary  accumulations  were 
piled.  These  shores  have  of  course  been  deeply  buried 
under  the  deposits  of  subsequent  ages.  But  the  whirligig 
of  time  has  once  more  brought  them  up  to  the  light  of  day 
1  Nature,  August  1880. 
L 


146  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vn 

by  stripping  off  the  thick  piles  of  rock  beneath  which  they 
have  lain  preserved  during  so  vast  a  cycle  of  geological  re- 
volutions. I  shall  here  describe  a  fragment  of  this  earliest 
land,  and  allude  to  some  of  the  geological  problems  which 
it  suggests. 

In  the  north-west  of  Scotland,  along  the  seaboard  of 
the  counties  of  Ross  and  Sutherland,  a  peculiar  type  of 
scenery  presents  itself,  which  reappears  nowhere  else  on 
the  mainland.  Whether  the  traveller  approaches  the  region 
from  the  sea  or  from  the  land,  he  can  hardly  fail  to  be 
struck  by  this  peculiarity,  even  though  he  may  have  no 
specially  geological  eye  for  the  discrimination  of  rock- 
structures.  Seen  Trom  the  westward  or  the  Atlantic  side, 
as,  for  example,  when  sailing  into  Loch  Torridon,  or  pass- 
ing the  mouths  of  the  western  fjords  of  Sutherlandshire, 
the  land  rises  out  of  the  water  in  a  succession  of  bare 
rounded  domes  of  rock,  crowding  behind  and  above  each 
other  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach.  Not  a  tree  or  bush 
casts  a  shadow  over  these  folds  of  barren  rock.  It  might 
at  first  be  supposed  that  even  heather  had  been  unable  to 
find  a  foothold  on  them.  Gray,  rugged,  and  verdureless, 
they  look  as  if  they  had  but  recently  been  thrust  up  from 
beneath  the  waves,  and  as  if  the  kindly  hand  of  nature  had 
not  yet  had  time  to.  clothe  them  with  her  livery  of  green. 
Strange,  however,  as  this  scenery  appears  when  viewed 
from  a  distance,  it  becomes  even  stranger  when  we  enter 
into  it,  and  more  especially  when  we  climb  one  of  its  more 
prominent  heights  and  look  down  upon  many  square  miles 
of  its  extent.  The  whole  landscape  is  one  of  smoothed 
and  rounded  bosses  and  ridges  of  bare  rock,  which,  uniting 
and  then  separating,  inclose  innumerable  little  tarns  (Fig. 
20).  There  are  no  definite  lines  of  hill  and  valley;  the 
country  consists,  in  fact,  of  a  seemingly  inextricable  laby- 


vii]  A  FRAGMENT  OF  PRIMEVAL  EUROPE.  147 

rinth  of  hills  and  valleys,  which,  on  the  whole,  do  not  rise 
much  above,  nor  sink  much  below,  a  general  average  level. 
Over  this  expanse,  with  all  its  bareness  and  sterility,  there 
is  a  singular  absence  of  peaks  or  crags  of  any  kind.  The 
domes  and  ridges  present  everywhere  a  rounded,  flowing 
outline,  though  here  and  there  this  outline  has  been  par- 
tially defaced  by  the  action  of  the  weather. 

The  rocks  that  have  assumed  this  external  contour  are 
the  Archaean,  Fundamental,  Lewisian,  or  Laurentian  gneiss, 
which,  as  Murchison  showed,  form  the  platform  whereon 
the  rest  of  the  stratified  rocks  of  Britain  lie.  They  do  not, 
however,  cover  the  whole  surface  of  these  north-western 
tracts.  On  the  contrary,  they  form  a  broken  fringe  from 
Cape  Wrath  to  the  Island  of  Raasay,  coming  out  boldly  to 
the  Atlantic  in  the  northern  half  of  its  course,  but  through- 
out the  southern  portion  retiring  chiefly  towards  the  heads 
of  the  bays  and  sea-lochs,  and  even  extending  inland  to  the 
head  of  Loch  Maree.  The  reason  of  this  want  of  con- 
tinuity is  to  be  found  in  the  spread  of  later  formations  over 
the  gneiss.  At  the  base  of  these  overlying  deposits  comes 
a  mass  of  dark  red  sandstone  and  conglomerate  (classed  as 
Cambrian  by  Murchison  and  his  associates),  which,  in 
gently-inclined  or  horizontal  strata,  sweeps  across  the  plat- 
form of  gneiss,  rising  here  and  there  into  solitary  cones  or 
groups  of  cones  fully  3400  feet  above  the  sea.  No  contrast 
in  Highland  scenery  is  more  abrupt  and  impressive  than 
that  between  the  ground  occupied  by  the  old  gneiss  and 
that  covered  by  this  overlying  sandstone  group.  So  sharp 
is  the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  two  tracts  that  it 
can  be  accurately  followed  by  the  eye  even  at  a  distance 
of  several  miles.  Where  the  sandstone  supervenes,  the 
tumbled  sea  of  bare  gray  gneiss  is  succeeded  by  smooth 
heathy  slopes,  through  which  the  flat  or  gently -inclined 


148  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vn 

parallel  edges  of  the  beds  protrude  in  successive  lines  of 
terrace.  As  the  ground  rises  into  conical  mountains,  the 
covering  of  heather  grows  more  and  more  scant,  but  the 
same  terraced  bars  of  rock  continue  to  rise  even  to  the 
summits,  so  that  these  vast  solitary  cones,  standing  apart 
on  their  platform  of  gneiss,  have  rather  the  aspect  of  rudely 
symmetrical  pyramids  than  the  free,  bold  sweep  of  crag 
and  slope  so  characteristic  of  other  Scottish  mountains. 

The  depth  of  these  sandstones  must  amount  to  several 
thousand  feet.  Even  in  ^single  mountains  a  thickness  of 
more  than  3400  feet  can  be  taken  in  at  a  glance  of  the  eye 
from  base  to  summit  (Fig.  19).  Yet  when  this  massive 
formation  is  followed  along  the  belt  of  country  in  which  it 
lies  it  is  found  to  thin  out  rapidly  and  even  for  some  dis- 
tance to  disappear.  Such  a  disappearance  might  arise  either 
because  the  sandstone  was  not  continuously  deposited,  or 
more  probably  because  it  was  unequally  worn  down  before 
the  next  group  was  accumulated  upon  it.  Evidently  the 
solution  of  this  question  has  an  important  bearing  on  any 
reconstruction  of  the  early  geography  of  the  region. 

Above  the  red  sandstones  and  creeping  transgressively 
across  them  lies  the  deep  pile  of  white  quartzites,  lime- 
stones, and  schists,  which  Mr.  C.  W.  Peach's  discovery  of 
recognisable  fossils  in  them  at  Durness  showed  to  be  ot 
Lower  Silurian  age.  Another  well-marked  contrast  of  scenery 
is  presented  where  these  rocks  abut  upon  those  just  de- 
scribed. The  quartzites  rise  into  long  lines  of  bare  white 
hills  which,  as  the  rock  breaks  up  under  the  influence  of 
the  weather,  are  apt  to  be  buried  under  their  own  debris 
even  up  to  the  summits.  Here  and  there  outlying  patches 
of  the  white  rock  may  bp  seen  gleaming  along  the  crests  of 
the  dark  sandstone  mountains,  like  fields  of  snow  or  nascent 
glaciers  (Fig.  19).  Quartzites,  limestones,  and  schists  dip 


0 


150  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vn 

away  to  the  east  and  pass  under  the  vast  series  of  younger 
schists  which  form  most  of  the  rest  of  the  Scottish  High- 
lands. This  order  of  succession,  first  established  by 
Murchison,  can  be  demonstrated  by  innumerable  lines  of 
natural  section.  I  have  myself  traced  it  through  the 
mountainous  country  from  Cape  Wrath  to  Skye,  and  in 
many  traverses  across  Sutherland  and  Ross.  I  have  sought 
for  evidence  of  the  reappearance  of  the  old  or  fundamental 
gneiss  of  the  north-west,  and  have  ransacked  every  Highland 
county  in  the  search,  but  have  never  found  the  least  trace 
of  that  rock  beyond  its  limits  in  Sutherland  and  Ross.  Its 
distinctive  gneisses  and  other  crystalline  masses,  so  wonder- 
fully unlike  anything  else  in  the  Highlands,  never  reappear 
to  the  east.  And  that  strange  mammillated,  bossy  surface 
is  found  in  the  north-west  alone. 

To  realise  what  the  appearance  of  the  old  gneiss  at  the 
present  surface  involves  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  it  was 
first  buried  under  several  thousand  feet  of  red  sandstone, 
that  the  area  was  then  further  submerged  until  the  vast  pile 
of  sediment  was  deposited  out  of  which  the  Highlands  have 
been  formed,  that  these  sedimentary  accumulations — how 
many  thousand  feet  thick  we  cannot  yet  tell — were  subse- 
quently over  the  Highland  area  crumpled  and  metamor- 
phosed into  crystalline  schists,  and  that  finally  towards  the 
west  the  ancient  platform  of  gneiss  was  once  more  ridged 
up  and  gradually  bared  of  its  superincumbent  load  of  rock, 
until  now  at  length  some  portions  of  it  have  been  once 
more  laid  open  to  the  air. 

There  is  thus  a  special  historical  interest  in  this  frag- 
ment of  the  old  gneiss  country.  It  is  a  portion  of  the 
earliest  European  surface  of  which  as  yet  we  know  any- 
thing— a  surface  in  chronological  comparison  with  which 
the  Alps  are  of  quite  modern  date.  For  many  years  past 


...n'  :",:  II 


152  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vn 

I  have  at  intervals  wandered  over  it,  finding  in  its  undula- 
tions of  bare  rock  a  fascination  which  a  fairer  landscape 
might  fail  to  exert.  Each  visit  suggests  some  fresh  problem, 
if  it  does  not  cast  light  on  earlier  difficulties.  One  of  the 
questions  which  must  particularly  engage  the  attention  of 
every  observant  traveller  in  Western  Sutherland  and  Ross 
is  the  origin  of  that  extraordinary  contour  presented  by  the 
gneiss.  A  very  slight  examination  shows  that  every  dome 
and  boss  of  rock  is  ice -worn.  The  smoothed,  polished, 
and  striated  surface  left  by  the  ice  of  the  glacial  period  is 
everywhere  to  be  recognised.  Each  hummock  of  gneiss  is 
a  more  or  less  perfect  roche  moutonnee.  Perched  blocks 
are  strewn  over  the  ground  by  thousands.  In  short,  there 
can  hardly  be  anywhere  else  in  Britain  a  more  thoroughly 
typical  piece  of  glaciation. 

An  obvious  answer  to  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the 
peculiar  configuration  of  this  gneiss  country  is  to  refer  it 
to  the  action  of  the  last  ice-sheet  which  covered  Britain. 
That  the  gneiss  was  powerfully  ground  down  by  that  ice  is 
sufficiently  manifest.  But  if  the  peculiar  bossy  surface  is 
to  be  thus  explained  we  are  confronted  by  the  difficulty 
that  the  ice  must  have  acted  far  more  effectively  on  the 
gneiss  than  on  any  other  rock  in  the  region.  Yet  there 
is  nothing  either  in  the  structure  of  the  rocks  or  in  the 
configuration  of  the  ground  to  make  the  erosion  greater 
on  the  gneiss  than  on  the  red  sandstone  or  quartzites  and 
schists.  The  same  side  of  a  sea-loch  may  be  seen  to  pre- 
sent slopes  both  of  gneiss  and  sandstone ;  the  gneiss  is 
always  worn  into  smooth  domes,  ridges,  and  hollows ;  but 
the  sandstone  retains  its  parallel  bands  of  rocky  terrace. 
The  difference  is  evidently  not  due  to  any  recent  greater 
glacial  abrasion  of  the  gneiss.  The  area  of  high  ground 
above  the  gneiss  platform  in  Sutherlandshire  is  compara- 


u  -s 


O   ^ 


154  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vn 

tively  small.  As  shown  in  Fig.  20,  it  rises  somewhat 
steeply  from  the  west,  its  chief  area  and  drainage  lying 
towards  the  east.  I  have  visited  those  tracts  of  the  High- 
lands where  the  rocks  approach  nearest  to  the  type  of  the 
ancient  gneiss,  and  where  the  conditions  have  been  most 
favourable  for  intense  glaciation.  No  more  promising 
locality  for  a  comparison  of  this  kind  could  be  found  than 
the  deep  denies  of  Glen  Shiel  and  Kintail.  The  rocks 
have  there  been  extremely  metamorphosed,  and  have  been 
exposed  to  the  action  of  ice  descending  from  some  of  the 
highest  uplands  in  the  West  of  Scotland.  Yet  we  look  in 
vain  among  them  for  any  semblance  of  the  bare  bossy 
surface  of  the  old  gneiss. 

A  further  difficulty  arises  when  we  reflect  that  in  the 
general  erosion  of  the  country  the  gneiss,  being  covered  by 
later  formations,  would  be  the  last  to  be  attacked,  and  in 
so  far  as  it  was  so  covered,  must  have  been  exposed  to  the 
erosive  action  of  the  ice  for  a  shorter  time  than  the  over- 
lying rocks.  We  might  therefore  have  presumed  that  instead 
of  being  more,  it  would  have  been  less  trenchantly  worn 
down  than  these.  Its  great  toughness  and  durability,  which 
have  enabled  it  to  retain  the  ice-impress  so  faithfully,  must 
have  given  it  considerable  powers  of  resistance  to  the  grind- 
ing action  of  the  glacier. 

Every  fresh  excursion  into  these  northern  wilds  has  in- 
creased my  difficulty  in  accounting  for  the  peculiar  contours 
of  the  gneiss  ground  by  reference  merely  to  the  work  of  the 
Glacial  Period.  A  recent  visit,  however,  seems  at  last  to 
have  thrown  some  light  on  the  matter.  I  had  long  been 
familiar  with  the  fact  that  the  platform  of  gneiss  on  which 
the  red  sandstones  and  conglomerates  were  laid  down 
abounded  in  inequalities  even  at  the  time  of  the  deposit  of 
these  strata.  Its  uneven  surface  rose  here  and  there  into 


- 


156  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vn 

high  ridges  and  cones,  of  which  Stack  is  a  diminished 
representative,  and  sank  into  depressions  now  occupied  by 
thick  masses  of  sandstone.  But  I  have  lately  observed  that 
not  only  do  these  larger  features  pass  under  the  sandstone, 
but  that  the  minor  domes  and  bosses  of  gneiss  do  so  like- 
wise. On  both  sides  of  Loch  Torridon,  for  example,  the 
hummocky  outlines  of  the  gneiss  can  be  seen  emerging 
from  under  the  overlying  sandstones  (Fig.  21).  On  the 
side  west  of  Loch  Assynt  similar  junctions  are  visible.  But 
some  of  the  most  impressive  sections  occur  in  the  neigbour- 
hood  of  Gairloch.  Little  more  than  a  mile  to  the  north  of 
the  church  the  road  to  Poolewe  descends  into  a  short  valley 
surrounded  with  gneiss  hills.  From  the  top  of  the  descent 
the  eye  is  at  once  arrested  by  a  flat-topped  hill  standing  in 
the  middle  of  the  valley  at  its  upper  end,  and  suggesting 
some  kind  of  fortification  :  so  different  from  the  surround- 
ing hummocky  declivities  of  gneiss  is  its  level  grassy  top, 
flanked  by  wall-like  cliffs  rising  upon  a  glacis-slope  of  debris 
and  herbage  (Fig.  2  2).  Closer  examination  shows  that  the 
little  eminence  is  capped  with  a  coarse  reddish  breccia  made 
up  of  fragments  from  the  surrounding  gneiss.  The  stones 
in  this  deposit  are  for  the  most  part  perfectly  angular,  and 
are  sometimes  stuck  on  end  in  the  mass.  They  underwent 
but  little  re -arrangement  after  they  were  thrown  down, 
though  occasional  lenticular  seams  of  red  sandstone  run- 
ning through  the  rock  serve  to  prove  that  it  is  lying  as  a 
flat  cake  on  the  gneiss.  My  friend  Mr.  Norman  Lockyer 
accompanied  me  in  the  examination  of  this  hill.  We 
searched  long  for  a  striated  stone  among  the  component 
materials  of  the  breccia,  but  the  matrix  was  too  firm  to 
allow  us  to  bare  and  extract  any  of  the  pebbles  or  boulders. 
We  traced,  however,  the  characteristic  rounded  bossy  sur- 
face of  the  gneiss  until  it  passed  under  the  breccia,  and  were 


VII] 


A  FRAGMENT  OF  PRIMEVAL  EUROPE. 


157 


£  .2 


convinced  that,  could  the  outlier  of  breccia  be  stripped  off,  the 
same  kind  of  surface  would  be  found  below  it  as  on  the  gneiss 
above  and  around.  The  valley  containing 
this  little  fragment  of  a  once  more  exten- 
sive deposit  of  breccia  certainly  existed  as 
a  hollow  in  Cambrian  times.  From  the 
narrowness  of  its  present  outlet,  which 
has  been  cut  by  the  escaping  streamlet, 
and  from  the  nature  of  the  breccia,  we 
may  infer  with  some  plausibility  that  the 
hollow  was  filled  with  water,  and  may 
have  been  a  lake.  It  was  almost  cer- 
tainly a  rock-basin,  surrounded  with  hills 
of  gneiss  that  had  been  worn  into  undu- 
lating dome-shaped  hummocks. 

Behind  the  new  hotel  at  Gairloch 
the  ground  rises  steeply  into  a  rocky  bank 
of  the  old  gneiss.  Along  the  base  of 
these  slopes  the  gneiss  (which  is  here  a 
greenish  schist)  is  wrapped  round  with 
a  breccia  of  remarkable  coarseness  and 
toughness.  We  noticed  some  blocks  in 
it  fully  five  feet  long.  It  is  entirely  made 
up  of  angular  fragments  of  the  schist 
underneath,  to  which  it  adheres  with 
great  tenacity.  Here  again  rounded  and 
smoothed  domes  of  the  older  rock  can 
be  traced  passing  under  the  breccia,  as 
at  a  in  Fig.  23.  On  the  coast  immedi- 
ately to  the  south  of  the  new  Free  Church  a  series  of  instruct- 
ive sections  lays  bare  the  worn  undulating  platform  of  gneiss, 
with  its  overlying  cover  of  coarse  angular  breccia  (b,  Fig. 
23).  Similar  evidence  occurs  to  the  north  of  Loch  Inver. 


158  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vn 

On  these  far  northern  shores,  then,  there  still  remain 
fragments  of  the  surface  on  which  our  oldest  sedimentary 
accumulations  were  deposited.  These  fragments  are  found 
to  bear  in  their  smooth  hummocky  contours  a  striking 
resemblance  to  the  surface  which  geologists  now  always 
associate  with  the  action  of  glacier-ice.  There  can  at  least 
be  no  doubt  that  they  are  denuded  surfaces.  The  edges 
of  the  vertical  and  twisted  beds  of  gneiss  and  schist  have 
been  smoothly  bevelled  off.  These  rocks,  however,  would 
never  have  assumed  such  a  contour  if  exposed  merely  to 
ordinary  sub-aerial  disintegration.  They  would  have  taken 
sharp  craggy  outlines  like  those  which  are  here  and  there 
gradually  replacing  the  ice-worn  curves  of  the  roches  mouton- 
nees.  They  have  certainly  been  ground  by  an  agent  that 
has  produced  results  which,  if  they  were  found  in  a  recent 
formation,  would,  without  hesitation,  be  ascribed  to  land- 
ice.  The  breccia,  too,  is  quite  comparable  to  moraine 
stuff.  Without  wishing  at  present  to  prejudge  a  question 
on  which  I  hope  yet  to  obtain  further  evidence,  I  think  we 
have  in  the  meantime  grounds  for  concluding  that  in  the 
north-west  of  Scotland  there  is  still  traceable  a  fragment  of 
the  earliest  known  land-surface  of  Europe,  that  this  primeval 
country  had  a  smooth  undulating  aspect  not  unlike  that  of 
the  west  of  Sutherland  at  the  present  time,  that  it  contained 
rock-hollows,  some  of  them  filled  with  water,  that  into  these 
hollows  piles  of  coarse  angular  detritus  were  thrust,  that 
around  and  beneath  the  tracts  where  this  detritus  accumu- 
lated the  gneiss  was  worn  into  dome-shaped  forms  strongly 
suggestive  of  the  operation  of  land-ice,  and  that  though  the 
ice  of  the  last  Glacial  Period  undoubtedly  ground  down  the 
platform  of  gneiss,  bared  as  it  was  of  the  overlying  forma- 
tions, it  found  a  surface  already  worn  into  approximately 
the  same  forms  as  those  which  it  presents  to-day. 


VHi]  ROCK-WEATHERING.  159 


VIII. 

ROCK-WEATHERING  MEASURED  BY  THE 
DECAY  OF  TOMBSTONES.1 

A  BUILDING  or  other  object  having  an  antique  aspect  is 
called  "  age-worn  "  or  "  time-eaten,"  or  is  described  by  some 
other  phrase  which  implies  that  during  a  long  course  of 
years  the  object  in  question  had  been  suffering  from  some 
slow  kind  of  change.  We  speak  of  "  the  gnawing  tooth  of 
time,"  as  if  time  were  a  material  form,  or  at  least  a  force 
or  energy  endowed  with  certain  powers  of  destructiveness, 
though  obviously  mere  lapse  of  time  can  have  no  such 
influence.  That  there  is  some  close  connection,  however, 
between  antiquity  and  decay  is  manifest  on  every  side.  An 
ancient  building  is  expected  to  look  more  or  less  decayed  : 
if  we  find  it  to  look  fresh,  we  immediately,  and  as  it  were 
instinctively,  doubt  its  antiquity. 

The  change  which  in  course  of  time  results  in  produc- 
ing the  crumbling,  venerable  aspect  of  a  piece  of  old  human 
architecture  is  but  part  of  the  continual  change  in  progress 
upon  natural  surfaces  of  rock  all  over  the  world.  The 
cliffs  of  a  mountain-side  or  sea-shore  reveal  precisely  the 
same  alteration,  but  in  a  higher  degree,  for  they  rise  on  a 
more  stupendous  scale  and  have  been  exposed  to  the 
1  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  1880. 


160  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vin 

weather  for  an  enormously  longer  time  than  even  the  oldest 
of  human  erections. 

This  kind  of  decay  is  briefly  described  as  "  weathering." 
It  is  a  complex  process,  however,  or  rather  a  series  of  pro- 
cesses, depending  on  the  one  hand  upon  the  relative  effi- 
ciency of  changes  of  temperature,  wind,  rain,  and  frost ;  on 
the  other  hand,  upon  the  composition  and  texture  of  the 
stone  itself.  Apart  from  the  problem  of  the  nature  of  the 
change  lies  the  question  of  its  rate.  Actual  time-measures 
are  as  yet  so  few  in  geological  inquiry  that  any  attempt 
may  be  welcomed  which  promises  to  supply  one.  The  rate 
of  weathering  of  rocks  appears  to  be  a  question  in  which 
precise  measurement  should  not  be  by  any  means  unattain- 
able. Comparatively  little,  however,  has  yet  been  done  to 
determine  with  precision  or  even  approximately,  the  rate 
at  which  the  exposed  surfaces  of  different  kinds  of  rock 
decay.  A  few  years  ago,  some  experiments  were  instituted 
by  Professor  Pfaff  of  Erlangen  to  obtain  more  definite  in- 
formation on  this  subject.1  He  exposed  to  ordinary  atmo- 
spheric influences  carefully  measured  and  weighed  pieces 
of  Solenhofen  limestone,  syenite,  granite  (both  rough  and 
polished),  and  bone.  At  the  end  of  three  years  he  found 
that  the  loss  from  the  limestone  was  equivalent  to  the  re- 
moval of  a  uniform  layer  0*04  mm.  in  thickness  from  its 
general  surface.  The  stone  had  become  quite  dull  and 
earthy,  while  on  parts  of  its  surface  fine  cracks  and  incipient 
exfoliation  had  appeared.  The  time  during  which  the 
observations  were  continued  was,  however,  too  brief  to  allow 
any  general  deductions  to  be  drawn  from  them  as  to  the 
real  average  rate  of  disintegration.  Professor  Pfaff  relates 
that  during  the  period  a  severe  hailstorm  broke  one  of  the 
plates  of  stone.  An  exceptionally  powerful  cause  of  this 
1  Allgemeine  Geologic  als  exacte  Wissenschaft,  p.  317. 


VHI]  ROCK-WEATHERING.  161 

nature  might  make  the  loss  during  a  short  interval  con- 
siderably greater  than  the  true  average  of  a  longer  period. 

It  occurred  to  me  recently  that  data  of  at  least  a  pro- 
visional value  might  be  obtained  from  an  examination  of 
tombstones  freely  exposed  to  the  air  in  graveyards,  in  cases 
where  their  dates  remained  still  legible  or  might  be  other- 
wise ascertained.  I  have  accordingly  paid  attention  to  the 
older  burial-grounds  in  Edinburgh,  and  have  gathered  to- 
gether some  facts  which  have,  perhaps,  sufficient  interest 
and  novelty  to  be  worthy  of  publication. 

At  the  outset  it  is  of  course  obvious  that  in  seeking  for 
data  bearing  on  the  general  question  of  rock-weathering, 
we  must  admit  the  kind  and  amount  of  such  weathering 
visible  in  a  town  to  be  in  some  measure  different  from  what 
is  normal  in  nature.  So  far  as  the  disintegration  of  rock- 
surfaces  is  effected  by  mineral  acids,  for  example,  there 
must  be  a  good  deal  more  of  such  chemical  change  where 
sulphuric  acid  is  copiously  evolved  into  the  atmosphere 
from  thousands  of  chimneys  than  in  the  pure  air  of  country 
districts.  In  these  respects  we  may  regard  the  disintegra- 
tion in  towns  as  an  exaggeration  of  the  normal  rate.  Still, 
the  difference  between  town  and  country  may  be  less  than 
might  be  supposed.  Surfaces  of  stone  are  apt  to  get  be- 
grimed with  dust  and  smoke,  and  the  crust  of  organic  and 
inorganic  matter  deposited  upon  them  may  in  no  small 
measure  protect  them  from  the  greater  chemical  activity 
of  the  more  acid  town  rain.  In  regard  to  daily  or  seasonal 
changes  of  temperature,  on  the  other  hand,  which  unques- 
tionably exert  a  powerful  influence  in  the  disintegration 
of  rock-surfaces,  any  difference  between  town  and  country 
may  not  impossibly  be  in  favour  of  the  town.  Owing,  prob 
ably,  to  the  influence  of  smoke  in  retarding  radiation,  ther- 
mometers placed  in  open  spaces  in  town  commonly  mark 

M 


162  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vni 

an  extreme  nocturnal  temperature  not  quite  so  low  as  those 
similarly  placed  in  the  suburbs,  while  they  show  a  maximum 
day  temperature  not  quite  so  high. 

The  illustrations  of  rock-weathering  presented  by  city 
graveyards  are  necessarily  limited  to  the  few  kinds  of  rock 
employed  for  monumental  purposes.  Around  Edinburgh 
the  materials  used  are  of  three  kinds  : — ist,  Calcareous, 
including  marbles  and  limestones;  2d,  sandstones  and  flag- 
stones ;  3d,  granites. 

I.  CALCAREOUS. — With  extremely  rare  exceptions,  the 
calcareous  tombstones  in  our  graveyards  are  constructed 
of  ordinary  white  saccharoid  Italian  marble.  I  have  also 
observed  a  pink  Italian  shell-marble,  and  a  finely  fossili- 
ferous  limestone,  containing  fragments  of  shells,  foramini- 
fera,  etc. 

In  a  few  cases  the  white  marble  has  been  employed  by 
itself  as  a  monolith  in  the  shape  of  an  obelisk,  urn,  or  other 
device  ;  but  most  commonly  it  occurs  in  slabs  which  have 
been  tightly  fixed  in  a  framework  of  sandstone.  These 
slabs,  from  less  than  one  to  fully  two  inches  thick,  are 
generally  placed  vertically ;  in  one  or  two  examples  they 
have  been  inserted  in  large  horizontal  sandstone  slabs  or 
"  through-stanes."  The  form  into  which  the  stone  has  been 
cut,  and  the  position  in  which  it  has  been  erected,  have 
had  considerable  influence  on  its  weathering. 

A  specimen  of  the  common  white  marble  employed  for 
monumental  purposes  was  obtained  from  one  of  the  marble- 
works  of  the  city,  and  examined  microscopically.  It  pre- 
sented the  well-known  granular  character  of  true  saccharoid 
marble,  consisting  of  rounded  granules  of  clear  transparent 
calcite,  averaging  about  T^Q  of  an  inch  in  diameter  (Fig. 
24,  A).  Each  granule  has  its  own  system  of  twin 
lamellations,  and  interference  colour-bands.  The  funda- 


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164  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vin 

mental  rhombohedral  cleavage  is  everywhere  well  developed. 
Not  a  trace  exists  of  any  amorphous  granular  matrix  or 
base  holding  the  crystalline  grains  together.  These  seem 
moulded  into  each  other,  but  have  evidently  no  extra- 
ordinary cohesion.  A  small  fragment  placed  in  dilute  acid 
was  entirely  dissolved.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this 
marble  must  be  very  nearly  pure  carbonate  of  lime. 

The  process  of  weathering  in  the  case  of  this  white 
marble  presents  three  phases,  sometimes  to  be  observed  on 
the  same  slab — viz.  superficial  solution,  internal  disintegra- 
tion, and  curvature  with  fracture. 

(i.)  Superficial  Solution  is  effected  by  the  carbonic  acid, 
and  partly  by  the  sulphuric  acid  of  town  rain.  When  the 
marble  is  first  erected  it  possesses  a  well-polished  surface, 
capable  of  affording  a  distinct  reflection  of  objects  placed 
in  front  of  it.  Exposure  for  not  more  than  a  year  or  two 
to  our  prevalent  westerly  rains  suffices  to  remove  this 
polish,  and  to  give  the  surface  a  rough  granular  character. 
The  granules  which  have  been  cut  across  or  bruised  in  the 
cutting  and  polishing  process  are  first  attacked  and  removed 
in  solution,  or  drop  out  of  the  stone.  An  obelisk  in  Grey- 
friars  Churchyard,  erected  in  memory  of  a  lady  who  died 
in  1864,  has  so  rough  and  granular  a  surface  that  it  might 
readily  be  taken  for  a  sandstone.  So  loosely  are  the  grains 
held  together  that  a  slight  motion  of  the  finger  will  rub 
them  off.  In  the  course  of  solution  and  removal,  the 
internal  structure  of  the  marble  begins  to  reveal  itself.  Its 
harder  nests  and  veinings  of  calcite  and  other  minerals 
project  above  the  surrounding  surface,  and  may  be  traced 
as  prominent  ribs  and  excrescences  running  across  the  faint 
or  illegible  inscriptions.  On  the  other  hand,  some  portions 
of  the  marble  are  more  rapidly  removed  than  others. 
Irregular  channels,  dependent  partly  on  the  direction 


vni]  ROCK-WEATHERING.  165 

given  to  trickling  rain  by  the  form  of  the  monumental 
carving,  but  chiefly  on  original  differences  in  the  internal 
structure  of  the  stone,  are  gradually  hollowed  out.  In  this 
way  the  former  artificial  surface  of  the  marble  disappears, 
and  is  changed  into  one  that  rather  recalls  the  bare  bleached 
rocks  of  some  mountain-side. 

The  rate  at  which  the  transformation  takes  place  seems 
to  depend  primarily  on  the  extent  to  which  the  marble  is 
exposed  to  rain.  Slabs  which  have  been  placed  facing  to 
north-east,  and  with  a  sufficiently  projecting  architrave  to 
keep  off  much  of  the  rainfall,  retain  their  inscriptions  legible 
for  a  century  or  longer.  But  even  in  these  cases  the  pro- 
gress of  internal  disintegration  is  distinctly  visible.  Where 
the  marble  has  been  less  screened  from  rain  the  rapidity  of 
waste  has  been  sometimes  very  marked.  A  good  illustration 
is  supplied  by  the  tablet  on  the  south  side  of  Qreyfriars 

Churchyard,  erected  in  memory  of  G G ,  who  died 

in  I785-1  This  monument  had  become  so  far  decayed  as 
to  require  restoration  in  1803.  It  is  now,  and  has  been  for 
some  years,  for  the  most  part  utterly  illegible.  The  marble 
has  been  dissolved  away  over  the  centre  of  the  slab  to  a 
depth  of  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch.  Yet  this  monument  is 
by  no  means  in  an  exposed  situation.  It  faces  eastward  in 
a  rather  sheltered  corner,  where,  however,  the  wind  eddies 
in  such  a  way  as  to  throw  the  rain  against  the  part  of  the 
stone  which  has  been  most  corroded. 

In  the  majority  of  cases  superficial  solution  has  been 
retarded  by  the  formation  of  a  peculiar  gray  or  begrimed 
crust,  to  be  immediately  described.  The  marble  employed 
here  for  monumental  slabs  appears  to  be  peculiarly  liable 
to  the  development  of  this  crust.  Another  kind  of  white 

1  For  obvious  reasons  I  withhold  the  names  carved  on  the  tomb 
stones  here  referred  to. 


166  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vm 

marble,  sometimes  employed  for  sculptured  ornaments  on 
tombstones,  dissolves  without  crust.  It  is  snowy  white 
and  more  translucent  than  the  ordinary  marble.  So  far  as 
the  few  weathered  specimens  I  have  seen  enable  me  to 
judge,  it  appears  to  be  either  Carrara  marble,  or  one  of 
the  strongly  saccharoid,  somewhat  translucent,  varieties 
employed  instead  of  it.  This  stone,  however,  though  it 
forms  no  crust,  suffers  marked  superficial  solution.  But  it 
escapes  the  internal  disintegration,  which,  so  far  as  I  have 
observed,  is  always  an  accompaniment  of  the  crust.  Yet 
the  few  examples  of  it  I  have  met  with  hardly  suffice  for 
any  comparison  between  the  varieties. 

(2.)  Internal  Disintegration.  —  Many  of  the  marble 
monuments  in  our  older  churchyards  are  covered  with  a 
dirty  crust,  beneath  which  the  stone  is  found  on  examina- 
tion to  be  merely  a  loose  crumbling  sand,  of  incoherent 
calcite  granules.  This  crust  seems  to  form  chiefly  where 
superficial  solution  is  feeble.  It  may  be  observed  to  crack 
into  a  polygonal  network,  the  individual  polygons  occa- 
sionally curling  up  so  as  to  reveal  the  yellowish  white 
crumbling  material  underneath.  It  also  rises  in  blisters 
which,  when  they  break,  expose  the  interior  to  rapid  dis- 
integration. 

So  long  as  this  begrimed  film  lasts  unbroken,  the 
smooth  face  of  the  marble  slab  remains  with  apparently 
little  modification.  The  inscription  may  be  perfectly  legible, 
and  one  would  not  readily  believe  the  stone  to  be  decayed 
at  all.  The  moment  the  crust  is  broken  up,  however,  the 
decay  of  the  stone  is  rapid.  For  we  then  see  that  beneath 
the  smooth,  coherent  surface-film  the  cohesion  of  the  in- 
dividual crystalline  -granules  of  the  marble  has  already 
been  destroyed,  and  that  the  merest  touch  causes  them  to 
crumble  into  a  loose  sand. 


vin]  ROCK-WEATHERING.  167 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  two  changes  take  place  in 
upright  marble  slabs  freely  exposed  to  rain  in  our  burial- 
grounds — a  superficial,  more  or  less  firm  crust  is  formed, 
and  the  cohesion  of  the  particles  beneath  is  destroyed. 

The  crust  varies  in  colour  from  a  dirty  gray  to  a  deep 
brown-black,  and  in  thickness  from  that  of  writing-paper 
up  to  sometimes  at  least  a  millimetre.  One  of  the  most 
characteristic  examples  of  it  was  obtained  from  an  utterly 
decayed  tomb  (erected  in  the  year  1792)  on  the  east  side 
of  Canongate  Churchyard.  No  one  would  suppose  that 
the  pieces  of  flat  dark  stone  lying  there  on  the  sandstone 
plinth  were  once  portions  of  white  marble.  Yet  a  mere 
touch  suffices  to  break  the  black  crust,  and  the  stone  at 
once  crumbles  to  powder.  Nevertheless  the  two  opposite 
faces  of  the  original  polished  slab  have  been  preserved, 
and  I  even  found  the  sharply-chiselled  socket-hole  of  one 
of  the  retaining-nails.  The  specimen  was  carefully  removed 
and  soaked  in  a  solution  of  gum,  so  as  to  preserve  it  from 
disintegration.  On  submitting  the  crust  of  this  marble  to 
microscopic  investigation,  I  found  it  to  consist  of  particles 
of  coal  and  soot,  grains  of  quartz-sand,  angular  pieces  of 
broken  glass,  fragments  of  red  brick  or  tile,  and  organic 
fibres.  This  miscellaneous  collection  of  town  dust  was  held 
together  by  some  amorphous  cement,  which  was  not  dis- 
solved by  hydrochloric  acid.  At  my  request  my  friend  Mr. 
B.  N.  Peach  tested  it  with  soda  on  charcoal,  and  at  once 
obtained  a  strong  sulphur  reaction.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  it  is  mainly  sulphate  of  lime.  The  crust  which 
forms  upon  our  marble  tombstones  is  thus  a  product  of  the 
reaction  of  the  sulphuric  acid  of  the  town  rain  upon  the 
calcium  carbonate  of  the  stone.  A  pellicle  of  amorphous 
gypsum  is  deposited  upon  the  marble,  and  encloses  the 
particles  of  dust  which  give  the  characteristic  sooty  aspect 


168  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vin 

to  the  stone.  This  pellicle,  when  once  formed,  seems  to 
be  comparatively  little  affected  by  the  chemical  activity  of 
rain-water.  Hence  the  conservation  of  the  even  surface  of 
the  marble.  It  is  liable,  however,  to  be  cracked  by  an  in- 
ternal expansion  of  the  stone,  to  which  I  shall  immediately 
refer,  and  also  to  rise  in  small  blisters,  and,  as  I  have  said, 
its  rupture  leads  at  once  to  the  rapid  disintegration  of  the 
stone. 

The  cause  of  this  disintegration  is  the  next  point  for 
consideration.  Chemical  examination  revealed  the  presence 
of  a  slight  amount  of  sulphate  in  the  heart  of  the  crumbling 
marble ;  but  the  quantity  appeared  to  me  to  be  too  small 
seriously  to  affect  the  cohesion  of  the  stone.  I  submitted 
to  microscopic  examination  a  portion  of  a  crumbling  urn 
of  white  marble  in  Canongate  Churchyard.  The  tomb 
bears  a  perfectly  fresh  date  of  1792  cut  in  sandstone  over 
the  top ;  but  the  marble  portions  are  crumbling  into  sand, 
though  the  structure  faces  the  east,  and  is  protected  from 
vertical  rain  by  arching  mason-work.  A  small  portion  of 
the  marble  retaining  its  crust  was  boiled  in  Canada  balsam, 
and  was  then  sliced  at  a  right  angle  to  its  original  polished 
surface.  By  this  means  a  section  of  the  crumbled  marble 
was  obtained,  which  could  be  compared  with  one  of  the 
perfectly  fresh  stone  (see  Fig.  24,  B).  From  the  dark  outer 
amorphous  crust,  with  its  carbonaceous  and  other  miscel- 
laneous particles,  fine  rifts  could  be  seen  passing  down  be- 
tween the  separated  calcite  granules,  which  in  many  cases 
were  quite  isolated.  The  black  crust  descends  into  these 
rifts,  and  likewise  passes  along  the  cleavage  planes  of  the 
granules.  Towards  the  outer  surface  of  the  stone,  immedi- 
ately beneath  the  crust,  the  fissures  are  chiefly  filled  witli 
a  yellowish,  structureless  substance,  which  gave  a  feeble 
glimmering  reaction  with  polarised  light,  and  enclosed 


viii]  ROCK- WEATHERING.  169 

minute  amorphous  aggregates  like  portions  of  the  crust. 
It  probably  consists  chiefly  of  sulphate  of  lime.  But  the 
most  remarkable  feature  in  the  slide  was  the  way  in  which 
the  calcite  granules  had  been  corroded.  Seen  with  re- 
flected light  they  resembled  those  surfaces  of  spar  which 
have  been  placed  in  weak  hydrochloric  acid  to  lay  bare 
enclosed  crystals  of  zeolites.  The  solution  had  taken 
place  partly  along  the  outer  surfaces,  so  as  to  produce  the 
fine  passages  or  rifts,  and  partly  along  the  cleavage.  Deep 
cavities,  defined  by  intersecting  cleavage  planes,  appeared 
to  descend  into  the  heart  of  some  of  the  granules.  In 
no  case  did  I  observe  any  white  pellicle  such  as  might  in- 
dicate a  re-deposit  of  lime  from  the  dissolved  carbonate. 
Except  for  the  veinings  of  probable  sulphate  just  referred 
to,  the  lime,  when  once  dissolved,  had  apparently  been 
wholly  removed  in  solution.  There  was  further  to  be 
observed  a  certain  dirtiness,  so  to  speak,  which  at  the  first 
glance  distinguished  the  section  of  crumbled  marble  from 
the  fresh  stone.  This  was  due  partly  to  corrosion,  but 
chiefly  to  the  introduction  of  particles  of  soot  and  dust, 
which  could  be  traced  among  the  interstices  and  cleavage 
lamellae  of  the  crystalline  granules  for  some  distance  back 
from  the  crust. 

It  may  be  inferred,  therefore,  that  the  disintegration  of 
the  marble  is  mainly  due  to  the  action  of  carbonic  acid  in 
the  permeating  rain-water,  whereby  the  component  crystal- 
line granules  of  the  stone  are  partially  dissolved  and  their 
mutual  adhesion  is  destroyed.  This  process  goes  on  in  all 
exposures  and  with  every  variety  in  the  thickness  of  the 
outer  crust.  It  is  distinctly  traceable  in  tombstones  that 
have  not  been  erected  for  more  than  twenty  years.  In 
those  which  have  been  standing  for  a  century  it  is,  save  in 
exceptionally  sheltered  positions,  so  far  advanced  that  a 


170  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vin 

very  slight  pressure  suffices  to  crumble  the  stone  into 
powder.  But  with  this  internal  disintegration  we  have  to 
take  into  consideration  the  third  phase  of  weathering  to 
which  I  have  alluded.  In  the  upright  marble  slabs  it  is 
the  union  of  the  two  kinds  of  decay  that  leads  to  so  rapid 
an  effacement  of  the  monuments. 

(3.)  Curvature  and  Fracture. — This  most  remarkable 
phase  of  rock -weathering  is  only  to  be  observed  in  the 
slabs  of  marble  which  have  been  firmly  inserted  into  a 
solid  framework  of  sandstone,  and  placed  in  an  erect  or 
horizontal  position.  It  consists  in  the  bulging  out  of  the 
marble  accompanied  with  a  series  of  fractures.  This 
change  cannot  be  explained  as  mere  sagging  by  gravita- 
tion, for  it  usually  appears  as  a  swelling  up  of  the  centre 
of  the  slab,  which  continues  until  the  large  blister -like 
expansion  is  ruptured.  Nor  is  it  by  any  means  excep- 
tional ;  it  occurs,  as  a  rule,  on  all  the  older  upright  marble 
tablets,  and  is  only  found  to  be  wanting  in  those  cases 
where  the  marble  has  evidently  not  been  fitted  tightly  into 
its  sandstone  frame.  Wherever  there  has  been  little  or  no 
room  for  expansion,  protuberance  of  the  marble  may  be 
observed.  Successive  stages  may  be  seen  from  the  first 
gentle  uprise  to  an  unsightly  swelling  of  the  whole  stone. 
This  change  is  accompanied  by  fracture  of  the  marble. 
The  rents  in  some  cases  proceed  from  the  margin  inwards, 
more  particularly  from  the  upper  and  under  edges  of  the 
stone,  pointing  unmistakably  to  an  increase  in  volume  as 
the  cause  of  fracture.  In  other  cases  the  rents  appear  in 
the  central  part  of  the  swelling  where  the  tension  from 
curvature  has  been  greatest. 

Some  exceedingly  interesting  examples  of  this  singular 
process  of  weathering  are  to  be  seen  in  Greyfriars  Church- 
yard. On  the  south  wall,  in  the  enclosure  of  a  well-known 


vin]  ROCK-WEATHERING.  171 

county  family,  there  is  an  oblong  upright  marble  slab 
facing  west,  and  measuring  30^  inches  in  height  by  22§ 
inches  in  breadth  and  f  inch  in  thickness.  The  last  in- 
scription on  it  bears  the  date  1838,  at  which  time,  of 
course,  it  was  no  doubt  still  smooth  and  upright.  Since 
then,  however,  it  has  escaped  from  its  fastenings  on  either 
side,  though  still  held  firmly  at  the  top  and  bottom.  It 
consequently  projects  from  the  wall  like  a  well-filled  sail. 
The  axis  of  curvature  is,  of  course,  parallel  to  the  upper 
and  lower  margins,  and  the  amount  of  deviation  from  the 
original  vertical  line  is  fully  2\  inches,  so  that  the  hand 
and  arm  can  be  inserted  between  the  curved  marble  and 
the  perfectly  vertical  and  undisturbed  wall  to  which  it  was 
fixed.  At  the  lower  end  of  the  slab  a  minor  curvature,  to 
the  extent  of  §•  of  an  inch,  is  observable,  coincident  with 
the  longer  axis  of  the  stone.  In  both  cases  the  direction 
of  the  bending  has  been  determined  by  the  position  of  the 
enclosing  solid  frame  of  sandstone  which  resisted  the 
internal  expansion  of  the  marble.  Freed  from  its  fasten- 
ings at  either  side  the  stone  has  assumed  a  simple  wave- 
like  curve.  But  the  tension  has  become  so  great  that  a 
series  of  rents  has  appeared  along  the  crest  of  the  fold. 
One  of  these  has  a  breadth  of  rV  of  an  inch  at  its  opening.1 
Not  only  has  the  slab  been  ruptured,  but  its  crust  has  like- 
wise yielded  to  the  strain,  and  has  broken  up  into  a  network 
of  cracks,  and  some  of  the  isolated  portions  are  beginning 
to  curl  up  at  the  edges,  exposing  the  crumbling  decayed 
marble  below.  I  should  add  that  such  has  been  the  ex- 
pansive force  of  the  marble  that  the  part  of  the  sandstone 
block  in  the  upper  part  of  the  frame,  exposed  to  the  direct 

1  It  is  a  further  curious  fact  that  the  slab  measures  £  inch  more  in 
breadth  across  the  centre  where  it  has  had  room  to  expand,  than  at  th« 
top,  where  it  has  been  tightly  jammed  between  the  sandstone  slabs. 


172  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vm 

pressure,  has  begun  to  exfoliate,  though  elsewhere  the  stone 
is  quite  sound. 

More  advanced  stages  of  curvature  and  fracture  may 
be  noticed  on  many  other  tombstones  in  the  same  burying- 
place.  One  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  these  has  a  peculiar 
interest  from  the  fact  that  it  occurs  on  the  tablet  erected  to 
the  memory  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  dead  whose  dust 
lies  within  the  precincts  of  the  Greyfriars — the  great  Joseph 
Black.  He  died  in  1799.  In  the  centre  of  the  sumptuous 
tomb  raised  over  his  grave  is  inserted  a  large  upright  slab 
of  white  marble,  which,  facing  south,  is  protected  from  the 
weather  partly  by  heavy  overhanging  masonry  and  partly 
by  a  high  stone  wall  immediately  to  the  west.  On  this  slab 
a  Latin  inscription  records  with  pious  reverence  the  genius 
and  achievements  of  the  discoverer  of  carbonic  acid  and 
latent  heat ;  and  adds,  that  his  friends  wished  to  mark  his 
resting-place  by  the  marble  whilst  it  should  last.  Less 
than  eighty  years,  however,  have  sufficed  to  render  the 
inscription  already  partly  illegible.  The  stone,  still  firmly 
held  all  round  its  margin,  has  bulged  out  considerably  in 
the  centre,  and  the  blister-like  expansion  has  been  rent  by 
numerous  cracks,  which  run,  on  the  whole,  in  the  direction 
of  the  length  of  the  stone. 

A  further  stage  of  decay  is  exhibited  by  a  remarkable 
tomb  on  the  west  wall  of  the  Greyfriars  Churchyard.  The 
marble  slab,  bearing  a  now  almost  wholly  effaced  inscrip- 
tion, on  which  the  date  1779  can  be  seen,  is  still  held 
tightly  within  its  enclosing  frame  of  sandstone  slabs,  which 
are  firmly  built  into  the  wall.  But  it  has  swollen  out  into 
a  ghastly  protuberance  in  the  centre,  and  is,  moreover, 
seamed  with  rents  which  strike  inwards  from  the  margins. 
In  this  and  in  some  other  examples  the  marble  seems  to  have 
undergone  most  change  on  the  top  of  the  swelling,  partly 


vin]  ROCK- WEATHERING.  173 

from  the  system  of  fine  fissures  by  which  it  is  broken  up, 
and  partly  from  more  direct  and  effective  access  of  rain. 
Eventually  the  cohesion  of  the  stone  at  that  part  is  de- 
stroyed, and  the  crumbling  marble  falls  out,  leaving  a  hole 
in  the  middle  of  the  slab.  When  this  takes  place,  disin- 
tegration proceeds  rapidly.  Three  years  ago  I  sketched  a 
tomb  in  this  stage  on  the  east  wall  of  Canongate  Church- 
yard. In  a  recent  visit  to  the  place  I  found  that  the  whole 
of  the  marble  had  since  fallen  out. 

The  first  cause  that  naturally  suggests  itself  in  explana- 
tion of  the  remarkable  change  in  the  structure  of  a  substance 
usually  believed  to  be  so  inelastic  as  white  marble,  is  the 
action  of  frost.  White  statuary  marble  is  naturally  porous. 
It  is  rendered  still  more  so  by  that  internal  solution  which 
I  have  described.  The  marble  tombstones  in  our  grave- 
yards are  therefore  capable  of  imbibing  a  relatively  large 
amount  of  moisture.  When  this  insterstitial  water  is  frozen, 
its  expansive  force,  as  it  passes  into  the  solid  state,  must 
increase  the  isolation  of  the  granules  and  augment  the 
dimensions  of  a  marble  block.  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  this  must  be  the  principal  cause  of  the  change.  What- 
ever may  be  the  nature  of  the  process  it  is  evidently  one 
which  acts  from  within  the  marble  itself.  Microscopic 
examination  fails  to  discover  any  chemical  transformation 
which  would  account  for  the  expansion.  Dr.  Angus  Smith 
has  pointed  out  that  in  towns  the  mortar  of  walls  may  be 
observed  to  swell  up  and  lose  cohesion  from  a  conversion 
of  its  lime  into  the  condition  of  sulphate.  I  have  already 
mentioned  that  sulphate  does  exist  within  the  substance  of 
the  marble,  but  that  its  quantity,  so  far  as  I  have  observed, 
is  too  small  to  be  taken  into  account  in  this  question.  The 
expansive  power  is  exerted  in  such  a  way  as  not  sensibly 
to  affect  the  internal  structure  and  composition  of  the 


174  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vin 

stone.  And  this  I  imagine  is  most  probably  the  work 
of  frost. 

The  results  of  my  observations  among  our  burial-grounds 
show  that,  save  in  exceptionally  sheltered  situations,  slabs 
of  marble,  exposed  to  the  weather  in  such  a  climate  and 
atmosphere  as  that  of  Edinburgh,  are  entirely  destroyed  in 
less  than  a  century.  Where  this  destruction  takes  place  by 
simple  comparatively  rapid  superficial  solution  and  removal 
of  the  stone,  the  rate  of  lowering  of  the  surface  amounts 
sometimes  to  about  a  third  of  an  inch  (or  roughly  9  milli- 
metres) in  a  century.  Where  it  is  effected  by  internal  dis- 
placement, a  curvature  of  2j  inches,  with  abundant  rents, 
a  partial  effacement  of  the  inscription,  and  a  reduction  of 
the  marble  to  a  pulverulent  condition,  may  be  produced  in 
about  forty  years,  and  a  total  disruption  and  effacement  of 
the  stone  within  one  hundred.  It  is  evident  that  white 
marble  is  here  utterly  unsuited  for  out-of-door  use,  and  that 
its  employment  for  works  of  art  which  are  meant  to  stand 
in  the  open  air  in  such  a  climate  ought  to  be  strenuously 
resisted.  Of  course  I  am  now  referring  not  to  the  dura- 
bility of  marble  generally,  but  to  its  behaviour  in  a  large 
town  with  a  moist  climate  and  plenty  of  coal-smoke. 

II.  SANDSTONES  AND  FLAGSTONES. — These,  being  the 
common  building  materials  of  the  country,  are  of  most 
frequent  occurrence  as  monumental  stones,  and  where 
properly  selected  are  remarkably  durable.  By  far  the  best 
varieties  are  those  which  consist  of  a  nearly  pure  fine 
siliceous  sand,  with  little  or  no  iron  or  lime,  and  without 
trace  of  bedding  or  other  structure.  Some  of  them  contain 
as  much  as  98  per  cent  of  silica.  A  good  illustration  of 
their  power  of  resisting  the  weather  is  supplied  by  Alexander 
Henderson's  tomb  in  -Grey friars  Churchyard.  He  died  in 
1646,  and  a  few  years  afterwards  the  present  tombstone,  iv 


vm]  ROCK-WEATHERING.  175 

the  form  of  a  solid  square  block  of  freestone,  was  erected 
over  his  grave.  It  was  ordered  to  be  defaced  in  1662  by 
command  of  the  Scottish  Parliament,  but  after  1688  it  was 
repaired.  Certain  bullet  marks  upon  the  stone  are  pointed 
out  as  those  of  the  soldiery  sent  to  execute  the  order.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  the  original  chisel  marks  on  the  polished 
surface  of  the  stone  are  still  perfectly  distinct,  and  the 
inscribed  lettering  remains  quite  sharp.  Two  hundred 
years  have  effected  hardly  any  change  upon  the  stone, 
save  that  on  the  west  and  north  sides,  which  are  those 
most  exposed  to  wind  and  rain,  the  surface  is  somewhat 
roughened,  and  the  internal  fine  parallel  jointing  begins  to 
show  itself. 

Three  obvious  causes  of  decay  in  arenaceous  rocks  may 
be  traced  among  our  monuments.  In  the  first  place,  the 
presence  of  a  soluble  or  easily  removable  matrix  in  which 
the  sand-grains  are  embedded.  The  most  common  kinds 
of  matrix  are  clay,  carbonates  of  lime  and  iron,  and  the 
anhydrous  and  hydrous  peroxides  of  iron.  The  presence 
of  the  iron  reveals  itself  by  its  yellow,  brown,  or  red  colour. 
So  rapid  is  disintegration  from  removal  of  the  matrix  that 
the  sharply-incised  date  of  a  monument  erected  in  Grey- 
friars  Churchyard  to  an  officer  who  died  only  in  1863  is 
no  longer  legible.  At  least  J  of  an  inch  of  surface  has  here 
been  removed  from  a  portion  of  the  slab  in  sixteen  years,  or 
at  the  rate  of  about  three-quarters  of  an  inch  in  a  century. 

In  the  second  place,  where  a  sandstone  is  marked  by 
distinct  laminae  of  stratification,  it  is  nearly  certain  to  split 
up  along  these  planes  under  the  action  of  the  "weather,  if 
the  surface  of  the  bedding-planes  is  directly  exposed.  This 
is  well  known  to  builders,  who  are  quite  aware  of  the  im- 
portance of  "  laying  a  stone  on  its  bed."  Examples  may 
be  observed  in  our  churchyards  where  sandstones  of  this 


i;6  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vm 

character  have  been  used  for  pilasters  and  ornamental  work, 
and  where  the  stone,  set  on  its  edge,  has  peeled  off  in 
successive  layers.  In  flagstones,  which  are  merely  thinly- 
bedded  sandstones,  this  minute  lamination  is  often  fatal  to 
durability.  These  stones,  from  the  large  size  in  which  slabs 
of  them  can  be  obtained,  and  from  the  ease  with  which 
they  can  be  worked,  form  a  tempting  material  for  monu- 
mental inscriptions.  The  melancholy  result  of  trusting  to 
their  permanence  is  strikingly  shown  by  a  tombstone  at  the 
end  of  the  south  burying-ground  in  Greyfriars  Churchyard. 
The  date  inscribed  on  it  is  1841,  and  the  lettering  that 
remains  is  as  sharp  as  if  cut  only  recently.  The  stone 
weathers  very  little  by  surface  disintegration.  It  is  a  lamin- 
ated flagstone  set  on  edge,  and  large  portions  have  scaled 
off,  leaving  a  rough,  raw  surface  where  the  inscription  once 
ran.  In  this  instance  a  thickness  of  about  -J-  of  an  inch 
has  been  removed  in  forty  years. 

In  the  third  place,  where  a  sandstone  contains  concre- 
tionary masses  of  different  composition  or  texture  from  the 
main  portion  of  the  stone,  these  are  apt  to  weather  at  a 
different  rate.  Sometimes  they  resist  destruction  better 
than  the  surrounding  sandstone  so  as  to  be  left  as  perma- 
nent excrescences.  More  commonly  they  present  less  re- 
sistance, and  are  therefore  hollowed  out  into  irregular  and 
often  exceedingly  fantastic  shapes.  Examples  of  this  kind 
of  weathering  abound  in  our  neighbourhood.  Perhaps  the 
most  curious  to  which  a  date  can  be  assigned  are  to  be 
found  in  the  two  sandstone  pillars  which  until  recently 
flanked  the  tomb  of  Principal  Carstares  in  Greyfriars 
Churchyard.  They  were  erected  some  time  after  the  year 
1715.  Each  of  them  is  formed  of  a  single  block  of  stone 
about  8  feet  long.  '  Exposure  to  the  air  for  about  150 
years  has  allowed  the  original  differences  of  texture  or 


vni]  ROCK-WEATHERING.  177 

composition  to  make  their  influence  apparent.  Each 
column  is  hollowed  out  for  almost  its  entire  length  on  the 
exposed  side  into  a  trough  4  to  6  inches  deep  and  6  to  8 
inches  broad.  As  they  lean  against  the  wall,  beneath  the 
new  pillars  which  have  supplanted  them,  they  suggest  some 
rude  form  of  canoe  rather  than  portions  of  a  sepulchral 
monument. 

Where  concretions  are  of  a  pyritous  kind  their  decom- 
position gives  rise  to  sulphuric  acid,  some  of  which  com- 
bines with  the  iron  and  gives  rise  to  dark  stains  upon  the 
corroded  surface  of  the  stone.  Some  of  the  sandstones  of 
the  district,  full  of  such  impurities,  ought  never  to  be  em- 
ployed for  architectural  purposes.  Every  block  of  stone  in 
which  they  occur  should  be  unhesitatingly  condemned. 
Want  of  attention  to  this  obvious  rule  has  led  to  the 
unsightly  disfigurement  of  public  buildings. 

III.  GRANITES. — In  Professor  Pfaff's  experiments,  to 
which  I  have  already  referred,  he  employed  plates  of 
syenite  and  granite,  both  rough  and  polished.  He  found 
that  they  had  all  lost  slightly  in  weight  at  the  end  of  a 
year.  The  annual  rate  of  loss  was  estimated  by  him  as 
equal  to  0*0076  mm.  from  the  unpolished,  and  0*0085  from 
the  polished  granite.  That  a  polished  surface  of  granite 
should  weather  more  rapidly  than  a  rough  one  is  perhaps 
hardly  what  might  have  been  expected.  The  same  observer 
remarks  that  though  the  polished  surface  of  syenite  was 
still  bright  at  the  end  of  not  more  than  three  years,  it  was 
less  so  than  at  first ;  and,  in  particular,  that  some  figures 
indicating  the  date,  which  he  had  written  on  it  with  a 
diamond,  had  become  entirely  effaced.  Granite  has  been 
employed  for  too  short  a  time  as  a  monumental  stone  in 
our  cemeteries  to  afford  any  ready  means  of  measuring 
even  approximately  its  rate  of  weathering.  Traces  of 

N 


178  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [vm 

decay  in  some  of  its  felspar  crystals  may  be  detected,  yet 
in  no  case  that  I  have  seen  is  the  decay  of  a  polished 
granite  surface  sensibly  apparent  after  exposure  for  fifteen 
or  twenty  years.  That  the  polish  will  disappear,  and  that 
the  surface  will  gradually  roughen  as  the  individual  com- 
ponent crystals  are  more  or  less  easily  attacked  by  the 
weather,  is  of  course  sufficiently  evident.  Even  the  most 
durable  granite  will  probably  be  far  surpassed  in  perman- 
ence by  the  best  of  our  siliceous  sandstones.  But  as  yet 
the  data  do  not  exist  for  making  any  satisfactory  compari- 
son between  them. 

Since  the  preceding  pages  were  written,  I  have  had  an 
opportunity  of  examining  the  condition  of  the  monumental 
stones  in  the  graveyards  of  a  number  of  towns  and  villages 
in  the  north-east  of  Scotland,  where  the  population  is  sparse 
and  where  comparatively  little  coal-smoke  passes  into  the 
atmosphere.  The  marble  tablets  last  longer  there  than  in 
Edinburgh,  but  show  everywhere  indications  of  decay. 
They  appear  to  be  quite  free  from  the  black  or  gray 
sulphate-crust.  They  suffer  chiefly  from  superficial  erosion, 
but  I  observed  a  few  cases  of  curvature  and  fracture.  As  a 
contrast  to  the  universal  decay  of  the  marble  tombstones, 
reference  may  be  made  to  the  remarkable  durability  of  the 
clay-slate  which  has  been  employed  for  monumental  pur- 
poses in  Aberdeenshire.  It  is  a  fine-grained,  rather  soft 
rock,  containing  scattered  cubes  of  pyrites,  and  capable  of 
being  readily  dressed  into  thin  smooth  slabs.  A  tomb- 
stone of  this  material,  erected  in  the  old  burying-ground  at 
Peterhead,  sometime  between  1785  and  1790,  retains  its 
lettering  as  sharp  and  smooth  as  if  only  recently  incised. 
Yet  the  stone  is  soft  enough  to  be  easily  cut  with  the  knife. 
The  cubes  of  pyrites  have  resisted  weathering  so  well  that 
a  mere  thin  film  of  brown  hydrous  peroxide  conceals  the 


vin]  ROCK-WEATHERING.  179 

brassy  undecomposed  sulphide  from  view.  The  slate  is 
slightly  stained  yellow  round  each  cube  or  kernel  of  pyrites, 
but  its  general  smooth  surface  is  not  affected.  The  lapse  of 
nearly  a  century  has  produced  scarcely  any  change  upon  this 
stone,  while  neighbouring  tablets  of  white  marble,  100  to 
150  years  old,  present  rough  granular  surfaces  and  half- 
effaced  though  still  legible  inscriptions. 


i8o  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 


IX. 

IN  WYOMING.1 

TWENTY-FOUR  hours  after  landing  in  New  York  my  pre- 
parations for  a  journey  to  the  Far  West  were  completed, 
and  I  found  myself  looking  out  from  the  windows  of  a 
Pullman  car  that  rapidly  swept  past  the  blue  reaches  of  the 
Hudson.  A  project  which  had  been  little  more  than  a 
dream  for  many  years  was  now  at  last  actually  realised. 
Let  me  briefly  explain  this  project,  that  the  purport  of  the 
journey,  and  of  the  following  notes,  may  be  understood. 

And  first  I  would  give  the  reader  due  warning  that  the 
object  of  the  expedition  was  not  sport  or  adventure,  but 
science.  My  companion  and  I  were  not,  indeed,  wholly 
unarmed.  To  go  without  at  least  revolvers  into  these 
western  wildernesses  would,  we  were  told,  be  sheer  folly. 
My  weapon  disappeared,  however,  in  an  early  part  of  our 
travels,  but  my  friend's  did  occasional  service  upon  a 
badger  or  prairie  hen.  All  the  sport  that  was  done  consisted 
in  the  slaughter  of  the  antelope  or  elk  that  was  needed  for 
food.  Nevertheless,  from  first  to  last,  the  journey  was  full 
of  interest,  and,  in  a  quiet  way,  even  of  excitement.  We 
had  game  of  our  own  to  hunt,  and  we  pursued  it  with  such 
measure  of  success  as  at  least  amply  to  justify  our  own  ex- 
pectations, and  to  reward  us  for  the  enterprise. 
1  Macmillarfs  Magazine,  1881. 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  181 

Everybody  now  knows  the  kind  of  evidence  from  which 
it  has  been  established  that  the  present  surface  of  the  dry 
land  has  once  been  in  a  wholly  different  condition.  In  all 
parts  of  the  world  this  evidence  obtrudes  itself,  often  so 
conspicuously  as  from  earliest  times  to  have  arrested  the 
attention  of  mankind,  and  to  have  suggested,  or  at  least 
coloured,  mythology  and  local  superstition.  In  many 
places,  for  example,  as  soon  as  the  layer  of  soil  or  subsoil 
has  been  removed,  the  rock  below,  with  its  embedded  shells 
or  corals,  or  other  remains  of  marine  life,  is  at  once  seen 
to  have  been  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  At  other  points  we 
find  traces  of  rivers  which  must  have  had  their  sources  in 
mountains  that  have  long  since  disappeared,  and  which  fed 
lakes  or  watered  woodlands  and  plains  that  for  ages  have 
been  buried  out  of  sight.  Or,  again,  we  come  upon  the 
earth  and  stones  left  by  vanished  glaciers,  upon  the  lime- 
stone spread  out  by  springs  long  ago  dried  up,  upon  the 
sheets  of  lava  or  heaps  of  ashes  thrown  out  by  volcanoes 
that  have  been  extinct  and  effaced  for  ages.  It  is  mani- 
fest, therefore,  that  the  present  surface  of  the  land,  so  far 
from  being  aboriginal,  is  only  the  latest  phase  of  a  long 
succession  of  geographical  revolutions,  the  uppermost  leaf 
as  it  were,  of  a  series  of  volumes  that  lie  beneath  it. 
Mountains  and  hills,  valleys  and  plains,  instead  of  standing 
out  as  parts  of  the  primeval  architecture  of  the  globe,  can 
be  shown  to  belong  to  many  different  epochs  of  the  earth's 
long  history. 

But  the  question  remains,  how  these  familiar  features 
have  come  to  be  impressed  on  the  surface  of  the  land. 
Granted  that  the  solid  materials  out  of  which  a  mountain 
or  tableland  has  been  built  were  originally  accumulated  as 
sediment  on  the  floor  of  the  sea,  how  has  this  hardened 
sediment  been  fashioned  into  the  well-known  lineaments  of 


182  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 

the  land?  The  solution  of  this  question  aroused  some 
years  ago  a  keen  discussion,  and  has  given  rise  to  a  por- 
tentous mass  of  geological  literature.  The  combatants,  as 
in  most  warfares,  scientific  or  other,  ranged  themselves  into 
two  camps.  There  were  the  Convulsionists,  or  believers  in 
the  paramount  efficacy  of  subterranean  movement,  who, 
starting  from  the  universally  admitted  proofs  of  upheaval, 
crumpling,  and  fracture,  sought  an  explanation  of  the  pre- 
sent inequalities  of  the  land  in  unequal  disturbance  from 
below.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  the  Erosionists,  or 
upholders  of  the  efficacy  of  superficial  waste,  who  main- 
tained that  besides  the  elevations  due  to  subterranean 
causes,  mountains,  valleys,  and  all  the  other  features  of  a 
landscape,  have  been  gradually  carved  into  their  present 
shapes  by  the  slow  abrasion  of  the  air,  rain,  rivers,  frosts, 
and  the  other  agents  of  subaerial  erosion.  The  contest, 
which  was  keen  enough  some  years  ago,  has  for  a  while 
almost  ceased  among  us,  though  an  occasional  shot  from 
younger  combatants,  fired  with  the  old  enthusiasm,  serves 
to  keep  alive  the  memory  of  the  campaign. 

Having  long  ago  attached  myself  to  the  camp  of  the 
Erosionists,  though  by  no  means  inclined  to  do  battle  under 
the  extreme  "  quietest "  banners  of  some  of  its  champions, 
I  have  been  led,  in  the  course  of  my  wanderings  over  this 
country  and  the  Continent,  to  look  at  scenery  with  a  peculiar 
interest.  I  have  long  been  convinced,  however,  that  for  the 
proper  discussion  of  the  real  efficacy  of  superficial  erosion 
in  the  development  of  a  terrestrial  surface,  the  geologists  of 
Europe  have  been  at  great  disadvantage.  The  rocks  in 
these  regions  have  undoubtedly  been  subjected  to  so  many 
changes — squeezed,,  crumpled,  fractured,  upheaved,  and 
depressed — that  the  effects  of  unequal  erosion  upon  their 
surface  have  been  masked  by  those  of  subterranean  disturb- 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  183 

ance.  The  problem  has  thus  become  much  more  compli- 
cated than  with  simpler  geological  structure  it  would  have 
been.  Its  solution  has  demanded  an  amount  of  knowledge 
of  geological  structure  which  can  hardly  be  acquired  with- 
out long  and  laborious  training,  the  want  of  which  on  the 
part  of  many  who  have  taken  part  in  the  controversy  has 
led  to  the  calling  in  question  or  denial  of  facts,  about  the 
reality  and  meaning  of  which  there  should  never  have  been 
any  doubt  at  all.  That,  in  spite  of  these  obstacles, 
observers  in  this  country  should  have  been  able  to  brush 
aside  the  accidental  or  adventitious  difficulties  and  get  at 
the  real  gist  of  the  matter,  as  I  am  certain  they  have  done, 
seems  to  me  a  lasting  proof  of  their  scientific  prowess. 

Now,  it  is  unquestionably  true  that  had  the  birthplace 
of  geology  lain  on  the  west  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
this  controversy  would  never  have  arisen.  The  efficacy  of 
denudation  instead  of  evoking  doubt,  discussion,  or  denial, 
would  have  been  one  of  the  first  obvious  principles  of  the 
science,  established  on  the  most  irrefragable  basis  of  patent 
and  most  impressive  facts.  Over  thousands  of  square  miles 
in  that  region  the  strata  remain  practically  unchanged  from 
their  original  horizontal  position,  so  that  the  effects  of 
surface  erosion  can  at  once  be  detected  upon  their  flat 
parallel  layers.  The  country  has  not  been  under  the  sea 
for  a  vast  succession  of  geological  periods.  It  has  not  been 
buried,  like  so  much  of  Northern  Europe  and  North-Eastern 
America,  under  a  thick  cover  of  ice-borne  clays  and  gravels. 
Its  level  platforms  of  sandstone,  shale,  clay,  or  limestone  lie 
at  the  surface,  bare  to  the  wind  and  rain,  and  their  lines 
can  be  followed  mile  after  mile,  as  if  the  whole  region  were 
one  vast  geological  model  to  which  the  world  should  come 
to  learn  the  fundamental  laws  of  denudation. 

For   the    exploration    of  these  western  territories   the 


184  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 

enlightened  enterprise  of  various  departments  under  the 
American  Government  has  already  done  a  great  deal. 
During  the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years  various  surveys  of 
different  portions  of  the  region  have  been  carried  on,  and 
a  voluminous  series  of  maps  and  reports  has  been  issued 
embodying  the  results  of  the  explorations.  Through  the 
courteous  liberality  of  these  departments,  for  which  on  all 
occasions  I  am  anxious  to  express  my  gratitude  and  admira- 
tion, I  had  received  copies  of  most  of  their  publications. 
The  descriptions  of  King,  Hayden,  Powell,  Gilbert,  Button, 
Emmons,  Hague,  Marvine,  Endlich  and  others,  and  the 
remarkable  drawings  of  Holmes,  had  made  me  in  some 
respects  familiar  with  the  general  aspects  of  the  scenery  and 
geological  structure  of  the  region.  From  these  works  it 
was  evident  that  questions  over  which  we  had  been  fighting 
so  long  in  Europe  were  finally  settled  by  Nature  herself  in 
America,  after  a  fashion  admitting  of  no  more  cavil.  It 
was  well  worth  while  to  make  a  journey  to  the  far  West  to 
see  with  one's  own  eyes  the  demonstration  for  which  one 
had  longed  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  And  this  was 
what  I  now  had  determined  to  do,  with  the  companionship 
of  an  old  friend  of  kindred  tastes,  Mr.  Henry  Drummond, 
of  the  New  College,  Glasgow,  who  from  first  to  last  shared 
in  the  work  and  smoothed  the  little  privations  of  the 
journey. 

Of  the  travelling  westward,  now  made  so  familiar  and 
comparatively  easy  by  the  various  rival  railroad  companies, 
little  need  be  said  here.  There  is  an  early  and  late  feature 
of  it,  however,  to  which  reference  may  be  made,  partly 
in  the  hope  that  every  renewed  protest  against  an  abuse,  as 
offensive  to  many  of  our  cousins  on  the  other  side  as  to  a 
visitor  from  the  old  country,  may  help  towards  its  ultimate 
suppression.  Hardly  is  the  traveller  out  of  New  York  than 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  185 

he  notices  that  every  natural  rock,  islet,  or  surface  of  any 
kind  that  will  hold  paint  is  disfigured  with  advertisements 
in  huge  letters.  The  ice-worn  bosses  of  gneiss  which 
rising  out  of  the  Hudson,  would  in  themselves  be  such 
attractive  objects  in  the  landscape,  are  rendered  hideous  by 
being  made  the  groundwork  on  which  some  kind  of  tobacco, 
or  tooth-wash,  or  stove-polish,  is  recommended  to  the  notice 
of  the  multitude.  All  the  way  west  to  the  Pacific  along 
the  railway  route  the  same  barbarous  practice  has  been 
employed,  with  an  ingenuity  and  perseverance  worthy  of  a 
better  causs.  Some  of  the  most  picturesque  canons  on  the 
route  have  had  their  walls  turned  into  advertising  boards 
— for  the  spoilers  have  travelled  with  ladders  as  well  as 
paint-pots,  and  have  carefully  inscribed  their  wares  on 
precipices  which  would  ordinarily  be  inaccessible.  Oil-paint 
lasts  for  many  years  ;  so  that  even  if  the  sacrilege  be  soon 
suppressed  it  will  be  long  before  the  record  of  it  has  wholly 
disappeared. 

Not  many  years  ago  Chicago  lay  at  the  extreme  verge 
of  advancing  civilisation.  One  who  had  been  so  far  west 
could  boast  that  he  had  reached  the  limits  of  settlements, 
and  had  looked  on  the  great  plains  haunted  by  wild  red 
men  and  buffaloes.  Now,  however,  the  network  of  railways 
has  spread  far  beyond  Chicago,  which  has  become  one  of 
the  chief  marts  of  the  Union,  having  free  communication 
alike  by  water  and  land  with  the  eastern  seaboard  of  the 
continent.  I  was  making  some  such  natural  reflections  as 
the  train  slowed  in  approaching  Chicago  station,  when  a 
noise  as  of  broken  glass  came  from  the  other  unoccupied 
end  of  the  car.  The  crash  was  loud  enough  to  startle 
everybody  for  a  moment,  but  the  conversation  and  packing 
up  of  bags  were  immediately  resumed.  On  going  to  the 
spot  I  found  that  two  window-panes  of  the  car  had  been 


i86  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 

pierced  at  about  the  same  height  by  two  successive  bullets 
from  a  revolver.  One  of  the  balls  had  made  a  clean  sharp 
hole  in  the  plate-glass,  and  would  no  doubt  have  con- 
tinued its  journey  through  the  body  of  any  unfortunate 
occupant  of  the  seat.  This  was  our  first  experience  of 
"  Western  Life."  We  looked  next  morning  in  the  papers 
for  an  account  of  the  "  outrage,"  as  it  would  have  been 
termed  by  our  penny-a-liners  at  home.  It  was  not  men- 
tioned at  all.  We  found,  however,  records  of  so  many 
successful  shootings  that  the  non-insertion  of  our  episode 
was  easily  to  be  explained.  The  incident  impressed  me 
with  a  sense  of  recklessness  in  the  use  of  firearms  and 
disregard  of  life — an  impression  that  was  not  effaced  by 
the  rest  of  the  journey. 

We  crossed  the  Mississippi  at  night,  and  having  some 
time  to  wait  at  the  Quincy  Junction  walked  down  to  the 
banks  of  the  river  and  reverently  dipped  our  hands  in  the 
great  "  Father  of  Waters."  Lights  gleamed  from  the 
farther  side,  heightening  the  effect  of  vastness  and  mystery. 
Behind  us,  too,  gleamed  the  much  brighter  lights  of  rival 
drinking  saloons,  from  which,  before  resuming  the  journey, 
we  were  enabled  to  enlarge  our  rapidly-growing  vocabulary 
of  American  drinks. 

The  Missouri  River  at  Kansas  City  is  the  muddiest, 
most  tumultuous  flood  of  rolling  water  I  ever  saw.  Yet  it 
was  now  the  month  of  August,  and  there  had  been  a  long 
course  of  previous  dry  weather.  The  train  carried  us 
slowly  across  a  creaking  wooden  bridge  over  the  boiling  sea 
below,  past  some  cliffs  of  old  alluvium,  into  a  station  full  of 
negroes,  of  whom  there  had  been  a  large  influx  from  the 
South  in  search  of  a  proposed  settlement  in  Kansas.  There 
being  now  some  kind  of  picnic  or  holiday  afoot,  they  were 
a  merry,  noisy  crowd,  dressed  out  and  bedizened  as  only 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  187 

niggers  can  be.  One  seldom  realises  what  an  extraordinary 
variety  of  tint  there  may  be  in  a  coloured  population. 
Some  of  the  excursionists  were  of  the  most  perfect  coai- 
black  shade,  from  which  every  gradation  could  be  noted 
till  the  crisp  hair  and  characteristic  features  remained  as 
almost  the  only  traces  of  negro  blood.  Westward  still, 
through  endless  monotonous  miles  of  maize  and  yet 
unbroken  land,  the  train  moved  wearily  hour  after  hour, 
until  on  getting  up  in  the  morning  we  found  ourselves 
unmistakably  on  the  great  prairie  at  last.  Perhaps  no  type 
of  scenery  so  closely  fulfils  a  previous  mental  picture  of  it 
as  the  western  prairie  of  North  America.  Seen  after  a  hot 
summer,  it  spreads  out  as  a  vast,  treeless,  arid  expanse, 
covered  with  a  short  and  sparse  grass,  which,  though  green 
and  flowery  in  spring,  becomes  parched  by  drought  into  a 
kind  of  hay,  through  which  the  baked  soil  everywhere  peeps. 
For  hundreds  of  miles  together  the  undulations  never  rise 
into  hills  nor  sink  into  valleys.  A  sluggish  streamlet, 
depressed  a  few  feet  or  yards  beneath  the  general  level, 
winds  here  and  there  in  lazy  curves  till  it  joins  some  sluggish 
and  muddy  tributary  of  the  Missouri,  that  creeps  along  a 
level  plain  bounded  by  low  bluffs.  But  ere  autumn  comes 
many  of  these  watercourses  have  been  reduced  to  groups 
of  stagnant  pools. 

At  proper  intervals  stations  have  been  built  with  means 
for  supplying  the  engines  with  water  and  fuel.  It  was  at 
one  of  these  halting-places  that  we  were  able  to  set  foot  for 
the  first  time  on  the  prairie.  The  brief  halt  enabled  us  to 
make  some  observations  that  served  materially  to  beguile 
the  tedium  of  this  railway  journey,  and  to  invest  the  feature- 
less prairie  with  a  new  interest.  Every  traveller  across  the 
continent  has  remarked  the  incredible  number  of  ant-hills 
and  burrows  of  the  prairie  dog  and  gopher  by  which  the 


i88  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 

flat  bare  surface  of  the  plains  is  marked.  The  ground 
appears  to  be  in  a  constant  state  of  cutaneous  eruption. 
So  leisurely  does  the  train  move  along,  however,  and  sc 
seldom  does  it  halt,  that  for  some  hours  after  daylight  we 
sat  looking  on  this  singular  scene  before  an  opportunity 
came  of  getting  down  to  have  a  closer  view  of  it.  We 
noticed  that  though  the  general  colour  of  the  soil  is  a  dirty 
yellowish  gray  or  drab,  the  ant-hills  h:ive  a  somewhat  pinkish 
tint.  Our  first  halt  revealed  the  curious  fact  that  this 
difference  arises  from  the  choice  which  the  ants  make  of 
their  building  materials.  With  infinite  labour  they  pick  up 
from  the  surface  of  the  prairie  the  small  broken  crystals  of 
flesh-coloured  felspar  that  are  sparsely  strewed  there.  The 
rocks  underneath  are  various  sandstones,  clays,  and  lime- 
stones, the  decomposition  of  which  could  never  have 
furnished  this  felspar  detritus.  I  examined  a  good  many 
ant-hills,  and  found  the  same  kind  of  fragments  on  all  of 
them.  The  felspar  grains  were  most  abundant,  but  there 
occurred  also  small  pieces  of  quartz  and  other  minerals  of 
crystalline  rocks,  and  here  and  there  some  black  glistening 
specks  of  coal.  There  seemed  to  be  a  thin  crust  or  veneer- 
ing of  this  kind  of  fine  detritus  over  the  drab-tinted  soil,  not 
thick  enough  to  be  readily  observable,  but  yet  sufficiently 
persistent  to  supply  the  materials  so  patiently  gathered  to- 
gether into  these  little  mounds. 

No  warning  bell  gives  the  traveller  notice  to  resume 
his  place  in  the  cars,  and  we  had  just  time  after  hearing  the 
"All  aboard  !"  of  the  conductor  to  regain  the  train,  more 
puzzled  than  ever  by  the  prairie  ant-hills.  The  source  of 
this  fine  felspar  drift,  and  the  cause  of  its  being  spread  so 
thinly  over  the  many  hundreds  of  square  miles  it  evidently 
covered,  were  questions  in  the  history  of  the  prairies  which 
we  could  not  answer,  but  to  which  we  were  able  to  return 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  189 

with  more  light  and  increased  interest  on  the  homeward 
journey.  At  last,  on  the  far  western  horizon  the  first 
summits  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  rose  like  blue  islets  out 
of  the  sea.  Hour  after  hour,  as  the  train  ground  its  dusty 
way  over  the  plain,  these  islets  rose  higher,  till  at  last  they 
united  into  the  long  noble  range  of  the  snow-streaked 
Colorado  Alps,  with  Pike's  Peak,  Long's  Peak,  and  a  host 
of  other  broad-based  cones  towering  far  up  into  the  clear  air. 
Though  it  was  no  part  of  our  programme  to  linger 
among  these  mountains,  we  gladly  availed  ourselves  of  the 
opportunity  of  making  an  excursion  into  them  in  passing. 
The  first  few  hours  showed  us  on  what  a  different  plan  these 
mountains  had  been  constructed  from  that  which  is  more 
familiar  in  the  Old  World.  Approaching  the  Alps,  for 
instance,  you  cross  a  succession  of  parallel  minor  ranges, 
or  foot-hills,  like  the  Jura,  which  flank  the  more  colossal 
ramparts  behind  them.  But  these  Colorado  Mountains 
tower  straight  out  of  the  plain.  For  hundreds  of  miles  to 
the  east  the  Cretaceous  or  Tertiary  strata  underlying  the 
prairie  seem  to  be  nearly  flat  or  only  very  slightly  undulat- 
ing, though  there  is  a  steady  rise  of  the  ground  westward. 
But  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains  they  are  at  once  abruptly 
pitched  up  on  end.  So  sharp  and  sudden  is  the  bend  that 
it  would  hardly  be  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  you  might 
sit  on  the  flat  beds  and  lean  your  back  on  the  vertical  ones. 
From  some  points  of  view  the  solid  sheets  of  rock  made  a 
magnificent  curve  from  the  plains  up  into  the  line  of  serrated 
crags  which  their  broken  edges  present  against  the  sky. 
The  meaning  of  this  structure  is  soon  apparent  when  the 
traveller  ascends  one  of  the  numerous  deep  gorges  or 
canons  into  which  the  flanks  of  the  mountains  have  been 
trenched  by  the  erosion  of  the  escaping  drainage.  In  the 
course  of  a  brief  space  he  finds  that  he  has  crossed  the 


190  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [n 

uptilted  formations  and  has  reached  the  ancient  granitic 
and  crystalline  rocks,  which  have  been  driven  up  like  a 
huge  wedge  through  the  younger  strata  of  the  prairies,  and 
now  form  the  axis  of  the  Colorado  Mountains.  But  for 
the  protrusion  of  this  wedge  the  "  Centennial  State"  would 
have  been  a  quiet  pastoral  or  agricultural  territory  like  the 
region  to  the  eastward.  The  rise  of  the  granitic  axis,  how- 
ever, has  brought  up  with  it  that  incredible  mineral  wealth 
which,  in  a  few  years,  has  converted  the  loneliest  mountain 
solitudes  into  busy  hives  of  industry.  Places  that  a  few 
years  ago  were  haunted  only  by  wild  beasts,  and  probably 
hardly  ever  saw  even  a  red  man,  now  count  their  population 
by  thousands.  Mining  camps  have  grown  into  cities  with 
important  public  buildings,  hotels,  and  many  of  the  luxuries 
as  well  as  vices  of  modern  city  life.  There  is  a  feverish 
rush  westward.  Advertisements  placarded  all  over  the 
Union  by  rival  railroad  companies  show  the  cheapest  and 
quickest  route  to  the  new  El  Dorado  of  Colorado,  and  hold 
out  tempting  prospects  of  rapidly  acquiring  a  fortune  there. 
We  found  ourselves  unwittingly  moving  westward  on  this 
wave  of  emigration.  It  was  tacitly  assumed  that  we  too 
were  bound  for  a  "claim"  somewhere. 

After  a  glimpse  at  the  canons  and  camp -life  of  these 
uplands,  we  skirted  their  eastern  slopes  amid  mounds  of 
debris,  which  renewed  our  interest  in  the  problem  _hat  had 
been  started  by  the  prairie  ant-hills.  Without  halting  at 
that  time,  however,  but  pursuing  our  way  westward  by  the 
Union  Pacific  Railroad,  we  made  no  stop  till  we  came 
within  sight  of  the  Uintah  Mountains  in  Wyoming.  This 
long  journey  is  marked  in  the  recollection  of  a  traveller 
by  the  complete  demolition  of  his  previous  mental  picture 
of  the  "  Rocky  Mountains."  Misled  by  the  absurd  and 
utterly  false  system,  still  far  from  extinct,  of  representing 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  19 i 

a  watershed  on  a  map  by  a  continuous  range  of  mountain 
chain,  most  people  have  grown  up  in  the  belief  that  the 
backbone  of  North  America  consists  of  a  colossal  rampart 
of  mountains  which  traverses  the  continent  as  a  continuous 
range,  running  in  a  nearly  north  and  south  direction,  and 
so  extraordinarily  rugged  as  to  have  deserved  the  special 
appellation  of  "Rocky."  No  conception  could  well  be 
further  from  the  reality.  To  depict  the  American  water- 
shed in  this  way  is  nearly  as  erroneous  as  it  would  be  to 
draw  a  lofty  mountain  chain  from  the  Pyrenees  across  the 
heart  of  France,  Switzerland,  Germany,  and  Russia,  as 
indicative  of  the  watershed  of  Europe.  Such  is  the  force 
of  habit  engendered  by  the  long  use  of  faulty  maps  that 
though  we  knew  what  the  true  structure  of  the  country  had 
been  shown  to  be,  it  was  yet  with  a  feeling  almost  of  in- 
credulity that  we  looked  out  upon  the  scene  on  either  side 
of  the  railroad  track  as  the  train  approached  the  summit  of 
the  route.  The  Colorado  Alps  had  sunk  down  into  a 
series  of  low  ridges,  though  we  could  still  see  in  the  far 
distance  some  of  their  more  notable  peaks.  Northward 
the  tops,  of  some  distant  hills  in  Wyoming  loomed  up  on 
the  horizon,  but  all  around  us  not  only  were  there  no 
mountains,  but  hardly  anything  that  deserved  to  be  called 
a  hill — certainly  nothing  that  for  a  moment  suggested  the 
crest  of  a  mountain  range.  The  railway  company,  with  a 
laudable  desire  for  the  diffusion  of  correct  geographical 
knowledge,  has  had  a  board  inscribed  "  Summit  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,"  and  placed  at  the  highest  level  of  their 
line.  One  looks  round  with  a  feeling  of  disappointment 
for  the  peaks  and  crests  that  ought  to  have  been  there. 
Instead  of  these,  there  is  the  same  long  smooth  prairie-like 
slope,  out  of  which  rise  numerous  quaint  knobs  of  pink 
granite.  The  central  wedge  not  having  been  driven  so  faj 


192  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 

upward  here  forms  no  conspicuous  feature  at  the  surface. 
Yet  it  has  carried  up  the  same  red  sandstones  on  its  eastern 
flank  that  rise  in  vertical  bands  among  the  canons  north  of 
Denver.  From  the  plain  of  the  Missouri  the  prairie,  there 
about  1000  feet  above  sea -level,  rises  slowly  in  elevation 
westward,  till  at  Cheyenne,  a  distance  of  rather  more  than 
500  miles,  its  surface  has  an  average  elevation  of  about 
6000  feet.  In  the  next  eighteen  miles,  however,  it  makes 
a  more  rapid  slope,  for  it  mounts  to  an  elevation  of  8271 
feet  above  the  sea.  The  loss  of  the  cherished  delusion 
about  the  aspect  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  was  in  some 
small  measure  compensated  by  a  glimpse  we  had  of  the 
source  whence  the  prairies  have  derived  their  fine  detritus 
and  the  ants  their  favourite  pink  building  materials.  The 
granite  of  this  elevated  plateau  is  a  bright  flesh-coloured 
rock  crumbling  into  sand,  the  grains  of  which  are  mainly 
of  pink  cleavable  orthoclase  felspar.  Exposed  to  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  weather  at  so  great  an  altitude,  the  rock 
readily  disintegrates.  Every  shower  of  rain  washes  down 
some  of  its  detritus,  which  is  further  carried  far  over  the 
plains  by  wind.  It  was  no  doubt  from  such  a  rock  as  this 
that  the  widespread  felspar  drift  of  the  prairie  has  been 
derived,  and  this  very  ridge  has  probably  furnished  a  due 
amount  of  it. 

After  crossing  the  summit,  the  railroad  track  descends 
slowly  into  the  elevated  plateau  known  as  the  Laramie 
Plains,  which  still  drain  eastward  into  the  Atlantic.  Not 
until  the  train  has  crossed  this  dreary  region  for  some  150 
miles  or  more,  does  it  reach  the  true  watershed  of  the 
country.  And  then,  instead  of  a  colossal  rampart  of 
rugged  mountains,  we  find  still  the  same  monotonous 
plains  on  which  the  few  names  that  have  been  affixed  to 
localities — Red  Desert,  Bitter  Creek,  Salt  Wells,  and 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  193 

others  —  sufficiently  denote  the  sterile  character  of  the 
region.  We  were  now  among  the  head-waters  of  the  great 
Colorado  River  on  the  Pacific  slope  of  the  continent.  But 
of  visible  slope  there  is  for  a  long  way  no  trace.  It  is  a 
bare,  treeless,  verdureless  waste,  crumbling  under  the  fierce 
glare  of  a  cloudless  sky  and  the  hot  blast  of  a  parching 
wind.  Yet  for  long  ages  these  deserts  were  the  site  of  a 
succession  of  lakes  vaster  in  size  than  any  now  existing  on 
the  American  continent.  The  water  has  disappeared,  and 
out  of  the  hardened  clay  and  marl  of  the  lake  bottoms  the 
elements  are  carving  some  of  the  weirdest  scenery  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  Every  mile  of  the  dusty  journey  now 
brought  with  it  new  and  still  stranger  proofs  of  this  marvel- 
lous erosion.  At  one  moment  we  were  looking  out  on 
what  might  have  been  taken  for  the  bastions  of  a  fort  that 
had  stood  a  long  siege.  Another  curve  of  the  line  brought 
into  view  seemingly  the  mouldering  battlements  and  decayed 
acropolis  of  some  early  heroic  city ;  at  the  next  turn  the 
array  of  rock -forms  could  find  no  adequate  parallel  in 
human  architecture.  Scenery  more  indescribable  can  hardly 
be  conceived.  As  yet,  indeed,  all  we  could  see  or  know 
of  these  "  Bad  Lands "  was  from  the  windows  of  the  car. 
But  we  saw  clearly  enough  by  their  level  lines  of  stratifica- 
tion that  their  forms  had  been  sculptured  out  of  horizontal 
rocks  by  surface  agents.  League  after  league  this  lesson  of 
utterly  inconceivable  waste  rose  out  impressively  on  either 
side,  until  at  last,  when  we  reached  Carter  Station,  we 
almost  felt  that  we  had  seen  about  as  much  as  our  faculties 
could  very  well  assimilate.  But  much  more  was- in  store 
for  us. 

Thanks  to  the  thoughtful  kindness  of  my  friends  Dr. 
F.  V.  Hayden,  to  whom  the  geology  of  Western  America 
owes  so  much,  and  Dr.  Joseph  Leidy,  the  revered  Nestor 

o 


194  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 

of  American  comparative  anatomy,  Judge  Carter  was  wait- 
ing our  arrival,  and  soon  carried  us  off,  bag  and  baggage, 
to  his  hospitable  home  at  Fort  Bridger.  In  former  days, 
before  railway  communication  was  opened  across  the  con- 
tinent, Fort  Bridger  was  an  important  station  on  the 
emigrant  road  to  Salt  Lake  and  the  Pacific  Coast.  It  is 
now  no  longer  a  military  post,  and  being  at  a  distance 
from  the  present  highway  of  traffic,  some  of  its  disused 
buildings  are  falling  into  disrepair.  But  Judge  Carter,  who 
used  to  be  the  patriarch  of  the  district,  still  lives  at  his 
post,  combining  in  his  own  worthy  person  the  offices  of 
postmaster,  merchant,  farmer,  cattle -owner,  judge,  and 
general  benefactor  of  all  who  claim  his  hospitality.  His 
well-known  probity  has  gained  him  the  respect  and  good- 
will of  white  man  and  red  man  alike,  and  we  found  his 
name  a  kind  of  household  word  all  through  the  West.  So 
rapidly  and  completely  have  things  been  changed  on  this 
route  by  the  formation  of  the  railway,  that  in  listening  to 
Judge  Carter's  stories  of  the  olden  time  one  could  hardly 
realise  that  some  of  the  most  startling  of  them  did  not  go 
further  back  than  fifteen  or  twenty  years.  Horse-stealing 
would  appear  to  have  been  the  one  unpardonable  sin  in 
these  quarters.  You  might  kill  a  man  outright,  and  it 
might  be  nobody's  affair  either  to  avenge  him  or  to  see 
you  brought  to  justice  for  the  murder.  But  to  steal  his 
horse  was  to  leave  him  to  perish  on  the  plains ;  and  if  you 
stole  his  horse  this  week  you  might  return  and  steal  mine 
next.  So  the  best  method  of  preventing  that  mishap  was 
to  put  it  out  of  your  power  ever  to  steal  again.  Killing 
you  was  consequently  not  murder ;  it  was  merely  punishing 
effectually  an  offence  that  could  not  be  reached  by  any 
ordinary  legal  means,'  in  a  region  where  criminals  were 
many  and  police  were  none.  Judge  Carter  had  had  many 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  195 

experiences  of  horse-stealers.  On  one  occasion,  travelling 
eastward  across  the  prairie  with  his  wife  and  family,  he 
found  next  morning  the  horses  stolen.  Such  a  position 
resembles  that  of  a  ship  at  sea  without  masts  or  sails. 
There  was  no  station  at  which  provisions  could  be  procured, 
so  that  the  loss  of  the  means  of  transport  meant  starvation 
and  death.  Fortunately  the  Judge  succeeded  in  recover- 
ing his  animals.  On  another  occasion,  having  tried  and 
convicted  a  horse-stealer,  he  sent  him  in  custody  to  the 
court  in  Utah.  The  man  was  chained  hands  and  feet, 
and  in  the  course  of  the  journey  succeeded  in  breaking 
his  foot-chain,  and  though  still  manacled,  tried  to  escape. 
He  was  of  course  speedily  shot  by  the  two  men  who  had 
been  entrusted  with  the  mission,  and  who  were  probably  a 
couple  of  dare-devils  no  whit  better  than  himself.  They 
consulted  as  to  their  next  step,  and  finding  in  their  writ 
that  they  were  "  to  deliver  the  body  of  the  prisoner  "  to  the 
sheriff  at  Salt  Lake  City,  they  took  the  instructions  in  their 
literal  sense,  stowed  the  body  into  the  stage-coach,  and 
delivered  it  duly  at  its  destination. 

From  Fort  Bridger  the  Judge  carried  us  to  see  the 
"  Mauvaises  Terres,"  or  "Bad  Lands"  of  Wyoming. 
This  expressive  name  has  been  given  to  some  of  the 
strangest  and,  in  many  respects,  most  repulsive  scenery 
in  the  world.  They  are  tracts  of  irreclaimable  barrenness, 
blasted  and  left  for  ever  lifeless  and  hideous.  To  under- 
stand their  peculiar  features  it  is  needful  to  bear  in  mind 
that  they  lie  on  the  sites  of  some  of  the  old  lakes  already 
referred  to,  and  that  they  have  been  carved  out  of  flat 
sheets  of  sandstone,  clay,  marl,  or  limestone,  that  accumu- 
lated on  the  floors  of  these  lakes.  Everywhere,  therefore, 
horizontal  lines  of  stratification  meet  the  eye,  giving 
alternate  stripes  of  buff,  yellow,  white,  or  red,  with  here 


196  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [IX 

and    there    a    strange   verdigris-like    green.     These    strata 
extend  nearly  horizontally  for  hundreds  of  square  miles. 
But  they  have  been  most  unequally  eroded.     Here  and 
there  isolated  flat-topped  eminences  or  "buttes,"  as  they 
are  styled  in  the  West,  rise  from  the  plain  in  front  of  a  line 
of  bluff  or  cliff  to  a  height  of  several  hundred  feet.      On 
examination,  each  of  these  hills  is  found  to  be  built  up  of 
horizontal  strata,  and  the  same  beds  reappear  in  lines  of 
terraced  cliff  along  the  margin  of  the  plain.     A  butte  is 
only  a  remnant  of  the  original   deep  mass  of  horizontal 
strata  that  once  stretched  far  across  the  plain.      Its  sides 
and  the  fronts  of  the  terraced  cliffs,  utterly  verdureless  and 
bare,  have  been  scarped  into  recesses  and  projecting  but- 
tresses.    These  have  been  further  cut  down  into  a  laby- 
rinth of  peaks  and  columns,  clefts  and  ravines,  now  strangely 
monumental,  now  uncouthly  irregular,  till  the  eye  grows 
weary  with  the  endless  variety  and  novelty  of  the  forms. 
Yet  beneath  all  this  chaos  of  outlines  there  can  be  traced 
everywhere  the  level  parallel  bars  of  the  strata.     The  same 
band  of  rock,  originally  one  of  the  successive  floors  of  the 
old  lake,  can  be  followed  without  bend  or  break  from  chasm 
to  chasm,  and  pinnacle  to  pinnacle.     Tumultuous  as  the 
surface  may  be,  it  has  no  relation  to  underground  disturb- 
ances, for  the  rocks  are  as  level  and  unbroken  as  when  they 
were  laid  down.     It  owes  its  ruggedness  entirely  to  erosion. 
But  there  is  a  further  feature  which  crowns  the  repul- 
siveness   of   the   Bad    Lands.     There   are    no   springs    or 
streams.      Into  the  soil,  parched  by  the  fierce  heats  of  a 
torrid  summer,    the   moisture  of  the   sub-soil  ascends   by 
capillary  attraction,  carrying  with  it  the  saline  solutions  it 
has  extracted  from  the  rocks.     At  the  surface  it  is  at  once 
evaporated,  leaving  behind  a  white  crust  or  efflorescence, 
which  covers  the  bare  ground  and  encrusts  the  pebbles 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  197 

strewn  thereon.  Vegetation  wholly  fails,  save  here  and 
there  a  bunch  of  salt -weed  or  a  bush  of  the  ubiquitous 
sage-brush,  the  parched  livid  green  of  which  serves  only 
to  increase  the  desolation  of  the  desert. 

How,  then,  has  this  strange  type  of  landscape  been 
produced  ?  The  rainfall  is  exceedingly  small,  though  from 
time  to  time  come  heavy  showers  that  no  doubt  do  much 
to  furrow  the  crumbling  sides  of  the  cliffs  and  "  buttes," 
and  sweep  down  the  detritus  to  lower  ground.  The  main 
instrument  of  destruction,  however,  is  not  rain.  In  the 
clear  dry  air  of  these  western  regions  the  daily  range  of 
temperature  is  astonishingly  great.  In  my  own  experience 
the  thermometer  rose  sometimes  to  90°  in  the  shade,  and 
fell  at  night  to  19°  Fahr.  But  this  daily  range  of  71°  is 
much  exceeded.  Exposed  during  the  day  to  the  expansion 
caused  by  such  heat,  and  during  the  night  to  contraction 
from  such  rapid  chilling,  the  surface  of  the  friable  strata  is 
in  a  constant  state  of  strain,  under  which  it  exfoliates  and 
crumbles  into  sand.  The  sultry  air  during  the  earlier  part 
of  the  day  remains  motionless.  Again  and  again  we  saw 
mirage  across  the  plains.  The  isolated  buttes  and  project- 
ing cliffs  were  broken  up  into  clumps  like  trees,  beneath 
which  lay  what  seemed  the  sheen  of  a  placid  lake,  though 
really  a  parched  sage-brush  plain,  or  a  burning  expanse  of 
sand  and  alkali  soil.  But  in  the  afternoon  a  wind  always 
rose  and  swept  across  the  country,  though  fortunately, 
during  our  exploration,  never  getting  beyond  a  breeze.  But 
it  was  not  difficult  to  realise  what  these  blasts  must  be  in 
the  full  blaze  of  summer,  when  the  hot  air,  like  the  breath 
of  a  simoom,  rushes  along  the  desert,  lifting  up  clouds  of 
sand  and  of  the  fine  white  efflorescent  dust.  The  powdery 
surface  of  the  crumbling  rocks  is  blown  away.  Wastes  of 
loose  sand,  here  piled  into  shifting  dunes,  there  dispersed 


I9»  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [i> 

far  and  wide  over  the  desert,  are  continually  augmented  by 
fresh  supplies  of  material  from  the  same  source.  Every 
pebble  that  projects  above  the  ground  acquires,  under  the 
action  of  the  ceaseless  sand-drift,  a  curiously  polished  and 
channelled  surface.  And  the  same  erosive  action  no  doubt 
affects  the  mouldering  precipices  of  the  Bad  Lands.  The 
rocks  are  actually  ground  down  by  their  own  detritus, 
driven  against  them  by  the  wind. 

To  the  south  of  the  Bad  Lands  lie  the  Uintah  Moun- 
tains, one  of  the  most  interesting  ranges  in  North  America ; 
for,  instead  of  following  the  usual  north  and  south  direction, 
it  runs  nearly  east  and  west,  and,  in  place  of  a  central 
crystalline  wedge  driven  through  the  younger  formations,  it 
consists  of  a  vast  flat  arch  of  nearly  horizontal  strata  that 
plunge  steeply  down  into  the  plains  on  either  side.  We 
made  an  excursion  from  Fort  Bridger  into  these  mountains. 
From  the  arid  plains  the  change  was  pleasant  to  the  densely 
forest-clad  flanks  of  the  chain.  We  had,  as  guide,  from  the 
Judge,  an  old  trapper  who  had  long  hunted  in  the  moun- 
tains, and  who  had  a  good  wallet  of  stories  for  the  camp- 
fire  at  night.  We  shall  not  soon  forget  our  first  day's 
experience  of  an  American  forest.  Starting  early  with  the 
view  of  getting  above  the  timber-line,  and  having  a  general 
bird's-eye  view  of  the  interior  of  the  mountains,  we  rode 
for  several  hours  through  the  forest,  making  for  a  far  peak 
that  rose  high  above  the  dense  forest  of  pine.  Probably  the 
first  remark  of  a  novice  from  the  Old  World,  when  he  enters 
the  forests  of  the  New,  is  suggested  by  the  slimness  and 
height  of  the  trees  ;  they  look  like  huge  poles,  feathered  at 
top,  and  stuck  irregularly  into  the  ground — sometimes  sj 
near  each  other  that  one  cannot  force  one's  way  between 
two  trunks.  Rarely,  even  in  the  opener  glades,  does  one 
meet  with  a  really  handsome,  well-grown  stem,  throwing  its 


IX]  IN  WYOMING.  199 

branches  out  freely  all  the  way  up.  The  next  subject  of 
astonishment  is  the  variety  of  stages  of  growth  among  the 
timber.  The  tiny  sapling,  not  long  enough  for  a  walking- 
stick,  may  be  seen  springing  up  beside  the  mouldering  pros- 
trate stem  of  a  departed  patriarch  of  the  forest.  Between 
these  extremes  every  gradation  may  be  seen  at  any  place 
where  one  chooses  to  look,  giving  an  impression  of  calm  un- 
disturbed nature  and  venerable  antiquity.  Another  novelty, 
and  perhaps  the  most  striking  of  all,  is  the  sight  of  so  much 
fallen  timber.  Many  trees  die  and  decay,  but  yet  remain 
erect,  either  because  their  roots  hold,  or  because  their  stems 
are  kept  in  place  by  the  support  of  their  still  living  neigh- 
bours. Others  lose  their  stability,  and  topple  over  upon 
those  next  them.  Every  angle  of  inclination  among  these 
decaying  stems  may  be  observed.  You  can  ride  below 
some  of  them,  though  with  the  risk  of  having  your  hat 
switched  off  by  some  unobserved  branch.  Others  you  may 
walk  your  horse  over,  and  an  animal  accustomed  to  the 
work  acquires  wonderful  dexterity  in  surmounting  these 
obstacles.  But  when  the  trunks  approach  the  ground,  or 
when  they  lie  piled  across  each  other,  as  they  so  continually 
do,  you  must  ride  round  them  ;  so  that  in  those  parts  of 
the  forest  where  fallen  timber  is  plentiful  your  progress 
becomes  provokingly  slow  and  laborious.  To  us,  however, 
everything  was  fresh.  We  rode  on,  hour  after  hour,  in  a 
kind  of  new  world,  gradually  ascending  till  we  found  our- 
selves on  the  crest  of  a  wide  valley  filled  with  pine-forest 
up  to  the  brim,  yet  with  stripes  of  green  meadow  peeping 
out  here  and  there  along  its  centre.  From  the  farther  side 
of  this  great  depression  rose  the  fine  snow-streaked  summits 
of  the  chain.  The  descent  was  less  easy  than  the  ascent 
had  been,  for  the  trees  had  fallen  thickly  down  the  steep 
declivity,  which  was  further  roughened  by  rocky  ledges  and 


200  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 

fallen  crags  that  would  have  been  easy  enough  to  surmount 
with  free  hands  and  feet,  but  which  acquired  in  our  eyes  a 
novel  importance  from  the  difficulty  of  getting  a  horse  over 
them.  Nevertheless,  every  obstacle  was  successfully  over- 
come. We  climbed  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley,  as  far 
as  it  was  practicable  to  take  the  horses,  and  then,  leaving 
them  in  charge  of  "  Dan,"  scaled  the  crags  and  steep  slopes 
of  debris.  We  were  soon  above  the  limit  of  tree-growth,  and 
emerged  at  last  on  a  broad  bare  plateau  between  11,000 
and  12,000  feet  above  the  sea. 

The  structure  of  the  Uintah  Mountains  has  been  in- 
vestigated by  several  surveying  parties  under  the  Engineer 
and  Interior  Departments.  Having  read  the  reports  of  the 
Hayden,  Powell,  and  King  surveys,  I  was  now  able  to  take 
in,  with  comparative  ease,  the  general  aspect  and  meaning 
of  the  magnificent  panorama  around  us.  The  broad 
central  mass  of  the  range  is  constructed  of  a  flat  arch  of 
dull -red  sandstones.  The  isolated  peaks  and  ranges  of 
buttressed  cliffs  along  this  part  of  the  mountains  reveal 
everywhere  the  horizontally  of  their  component  strata. 
Like  the  Bad  Lands,  but  on  a  far  more  magnificent  scale, 
they  have  been  cut  into  their  present  forms  by  atmospheric 
sculpturing.  Originally  the  rocks  stretched  in  an  unbroken 
sheet  across  the  mountains  ;  but  in  the  course  of  ages  this 
continuous  mantle  has  been  enormously  eroded.  Deep 
and  wide  valleys,  vast  amphitheatres,  lofty  terraced  alcoves, 
and  profound  gorges,  fretted  with  an  infinite  array  of  peaks, 
buttresses,  pinnacles,  columns,  obelisks,  and  endless  forms 
which  defy  the  observer  to  find  properly  descriptive  names 
for  them,  have  gradually  been  carved  out  of  these  rocks. 
Isolated  cones,  with  singalarly  majestic  architectural  forms, 
have  been  left  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  denudation  as 
monuments  of  its  greatness.  The  world  can  show  few 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  201 

more  impressive  memorials  of  the  efficacy  of  subaerial 
erosion  than  the  Uintah  Mountains.  There  are  no  struc- 
tureless crystalline  rocks  here  to  deceive  us  with  their 
ruggedness.  Every  peak  and  crest,  valley  and  canon, 
bears  witness  to  superficial  sculpture.  Wherever  the  eye 
turns  it  detects  the  same  long  lines  of  horizontal  stratifica- 
tion that  serve  as  a  base  from  which  the  reality  and  amount 
of  the  erosion  may  be  measured.  To  gain  such  a  vivid 
impression  of  the  importance  of  subaerial  waste  in  the 
evolution  of  mountain-forms  was  worth  all  the  long  journey 
in  itself.  Yet  to  the  south  of  these  mountains,  in  the  high 
plateaux  of  Utah  and  the  great  basin  of  the  Colorado,  the 
proofs  of  enormous  superficial  waste  rise  to  such  a  gigantic 
scale  as  wholly  to  baffle  every  observer  who  has  yet  attempted 
to  describe  them. 

A  little  below  the  summit  which  we  had  gained  we 
found  some  bushes  in  fruit  that  recalled  the  wild  goose- 
berry of  home ;  near  these  a  few  stunted  Douglas  pines 
struggled  for  life.  But  of  animal  life  at  these  heights  we 
neither  saw  nor  heard  any  sign,  though  bears,  deer,  and 
other  large  game  haunt  the  surrounding  forests.  Rejoining 
the  horses  and  then  descending  as  rapidly  as  possible,  we 
passed  on  the  way  some  little  tarns  filling  high  recesses 
of  the  mountain,  but  so  thickly  wooded  round  that  we 
failed  to  find  the  ice-worn  sides  that  were  no  doubt  there 
to  mark  the  presence  of  a  former  glacier ;  for  no  sooner 
had  we  reached  the  valley-bottom  than  abundant  traces  of 
vanished  glaciers  made  their  appearance  in  the  form  of 
perfect  crescent-shaped  moraine  mounds  thrown  across  the 
valley.  On  these  were  strewn  huge  blocks  of  red  sand- 
stone, borne  of  old  on  the  surface  of  the  ice  from  far  crags 
on  the  sky-line.  Each  mound  of  rubbish  had  served  as  a 
more  or  less  effective  barrier  in  the  pathway  of  the  stream, 


202  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 

ponding  back  its  waters  into  a  lake  that  had  eventually 
been  converted  into  a  meadow.  But  far  more  effective 
than  the  glacier-made  dams  had  been  those  of  the  beaver. 
The  extent  to  which  the  valley  bottoms  in  this  and  the 
other  mountain  ranges  of  Western  North  America  have 
been  changed  by  the  operations  of  this  animal  is  almost 
incredible.  In  a  single  valley,  for  example,  hundreds  of 
acres  are  gradually  submerged,  and  their  cotton -wood  or 
other  tree-growth  is  killed.  In  this  way  the  floor  of  the 
valley  is  cleared  of  timber.  The  beaver-ponds  eventually 
silting  up,  become  first  marshes  and  then  by  degrees  fine 
meadows.  Riding  along  the  stream  we  passed  on  its 
banks  several  groups  of  short  stakes  thrust  into  the  ground 
and  tied  together  so  as  to  form  a  framework  as  if  for  low 
huts  or  wigwams.  They  were  quite  deserted,  and  had 
been  so  for  some  time.  Dan  told  us  they  were  constructed 
by  the  Indians  for  bathing  purposes.  Each  of  them  is 
large  enough  to  hold  only  one  person  at  a  time.  When 
in  use  they  are  covered  with  skins,  a  fire  is  kindled  inside 
and  kept  burning  until  a  few  stones  placed  in  it  are  thor- 
oughly warmed.  The  Indian  or  his  squaw  then  creeps 
in,  remains  until  perspiration  has  been  induced,  and  finally 
dashes  out  into  the  stream  below.  It  was  curious  to  find 
this  simple  form  of  the  sudatorium  and  frigidarium  among 
the  Utes  in  the  wilds  of  the  Far  West. 

It  was  now  afternoon.  We  rested  near  an  old  beaver- 
dam,  caught  a  few  trout  for  supper,  and  crossing  the  valley 
began  the  ascent  of  its  farther  side.  The  point  at  which 
we  recrossed  the  stream  was  considerably  lower  than  that 
by  which  we  had  made  our  way  in  the  morning.  But  I 
had  taken  my  bearings  when  we  were  clear  of  the  timber 
and  had  no  doubt  we  should  strike  ::nto  our  previous  route. 
The  ascent  was  steeper,  rougher,  and  more  impeded  with 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  203 

fallen  limber  than  anything  we  had  yet  come  to.  By  the 
time  we  reached  the  summit  the  golden  sunlight  was  play- 
ing in  level  beams  among  the  tall  pines  of  the  crest,  and  we 
knew  it  would  be  dark  in  little  more  than  an  hour.  Push- 
ing on  through  the  forest,  our  guide  kept  more  and  more 
towards  the  right  hand,  away  from  the  line  which  I  felt  sure 
was  that  of  my  bearings  from  the  mountain.  We  should 
have  reached  our  camp,  or  at  least  the  valley  leading  to  it, 
but  there  was  no  sign  of  either.  Nothing  all  round  us  but 
a  forest  that  was  growing  every  minute  darker  and  more 
hopeless.  At  last  Dan,  who  would  not  admit  that  he  had 
lost  his  way,  consented,  but  with  some  show  of  reluctance, 
to  wheel  round  to  the  left.  Night  was  now  descending  fast. 
Here  and  there  we  emerged  from  the  gloom  of  the  pines 
into  an  open  space  where  there  had  been  a  forest  fire. 
Seen  in  the  dim  light  of  departing  day,  tall  trunks  blackened 
by  the  fire,  others  bleached  white  by  the  loss  of  their 
scorched  barks,  rose  up  like  a  company  of  spectres,  swing- 
ing their  gaunt  arms  against  the  sky  as  if  to  warn  us  not 
to  pass  them  into  the  darkness  beyond.  After  such  opener 
intervals  the  forest,  as  we  re-entered  it,  became  more  sombre 
than  ever.  The  trees  seemed  to  close  all  around  and  over 
us.  The  fallen  timber  increased  in  confusion,  the  horses 
stumbled  on,  and  we  could  no  longer  see  to  guide  them. 
Reaching  at  last  a  little  glade  above  which  we  could  see 
the  stars,  we  resolved  to  pass  the  night  there.  Dan  took 
charge  of  the  horses,  and  we  groped  our  way  to  where  we 
hoped  to  find  water.  Our  search  proved  successful,  and  as 
we  were  tired  and  thirsty  we  drank  heartily  from  some 
pools  which  we  could  not  see,  and  only  discovered  by 
getting  into  them.  On  our  return  we  found  that  Dan  had 
kindled  a  fire,  which  was  blazing  and  crackling  merrily. 
This  was  nearly  all  the  comfort  that  could  be  had  unde 


204  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [ix 

the  circumstances.  For  we  had  no  food  with  us  except 
the  trout  caught  in  the  afternoon,  and  no  covering  for  the 
night  save  the  saddle-cloths  of  the  horses.  There  was  no 
help  for  it,  however ;  so  the  trout  were  duly  roasted  and 
eaten,  and  each  donned  his  saddle-cloth  as  bed  and  bedding 
combined.  But  before  long  it  was  evident  that,  choosing 
his  fireplace  in  the  dark,  our  guide  had  placed  it  in  rather 
perilous  proximity  to  a  quantity  of  dried  brushwood  and 
fallen  timber.  And,  indeed,  before  we  could  do  anything 
to  prevent  them,  the  flames  spread  onward  till  a  venerable 
pine  caught  fire,  and  was  soon  a  sheet  of  coruscating  fire- 
works. His  neighbours  followed  his  example,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  it  was  evident  that  the  forest  was  on  fire.  The 
flames  rushed  along  the  branches,  mounting  higher  and 
higher  far  up  into  the  lofty  crests  of  the  pines,  whence 
showers  of  sparks  flew  out  and  fell  in  long  lines  through 
the  profoundly  calm  air.  Tree  after  tree  joined  the 
conflagration,  till  the  reports  of  the  exploding  branches,  the 
hiss  of  the  leaping  flames,  and  the  crash  of  the  falling  fire- 
brands, with  the  ghastly  glare  that  now  died  down  almost 
to  darkness  and  anon  shot  forth  into  renewed  brightness, 
made  sleep  unwelcome  even  had  it  been  willing  to  come. 
Fortunately  the  fire  eventually  spent  its  fury  on  the  trees 
that  stood  round  the  open  spot  we  had  selected.  It  had 
died  down  before  morning.  The  presence  of  so  much  heat 
around  us  did  little  to  modify  the  cold  of  the  night  air, 
and  our  thin  saddle-cloths  were  not  of  much  more  service. 
My  friend  and  I  huddled  as  close  together  as  possible, 
and  lay  looking  up  at  the  quiet  stars  as  they  slowly  sailed 
across  our  little  space  of  sky,  yet  keeping  an  eye,  too,  on 
the  progress  of  the  conflagration,  lest  by  any  chance  the 
flames  should  spread  and  surround  us.  The  stones  under- 
neath us  seemed  somehow  to  grow  harder  and  more  promi- 


ix]  IN  WYOMING.  205 

nent  before  morning.  I  got  up  more  than  once  and 
removed  an  offending  block,  but  its  place  was  soon  taken 
by  another.  At  last  the  first  faint  blush  of  dawn  appeared 
beyond  the  pine-tops.  As  soon  as  daylight  returned  the 
horses,  which  had  been  labouring  wearily  all  night  to  find 
a  meal  among  the  brushwood,  were  harnessed,  and  we 
resumed  the  march.  It  was  a  glorious  morning.  Not  a 
breath  of  air  was  yet  astir.  Long  wreaths  of  blue  smoke 
from  our  conflagration  lay  at  rest  among  the  pine-trees,  like 
streaks  of  cloud  asleep  on  a  mountain.  We  followed  the 
same  line  that  we  had  been  pursuing  when  darkness  came 
down  the  evening  before.  We  had  gone  scarcely  half  a 
mile  when  we  found  ourselves  at  the  edge  of  an  open  valley, 
and  there  in  front  stood  our  tent,  gleaming  white  in  the 
morning  sunlight. 


206  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 


X. 

THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.1 

THE  traveller  by  railway  across  the  American  continent, 
after  traversing  several  hundred  miles  of  barren  plain  and 
sandy  desert,  finds  at  last  that  the  line  begins  sensibly  to 
descend.  The  panting  engine  moves  along  with  increasing 
ease  and  diminished  noise  as  its  enters  a  long  valley  that 
leads  out  of  the  western  plains,  sweeping  by  the  base  of 
high  cliffs,  past  the  mouths  of  narrow  lateral  valleys,  cross- 
ing and  recrossing  the  watercourses  by  slim  creaking  bridges; 
now  in  a  deep  cutting,  now  in  a  short  tunnel,  it  brings 
picturesque  glimpses  into  view  in  such  quick  succession  as 
almost  to  weary  the  eye  that  tries  to  scan  them  as  they  pass. 
After  the  dusty  monotonous  prairie,  to  see  and  hear  the 
rush  of  roaring  rivers,  to  catch  sight  of  waterfalls  leaping 
down  the  crags,  scattered  pine-trees  crowning  the  heights, 
and  green  meadows  carpeting  the  valleys,  to  find,  too,  that 
every  mile  brings  you  farther  into  a  region  of  cultivated 
fields  and  cheerful  homesteads,  is  a  pleasure  not  soon  to 
be  forgotten.  The  Mormons  have  given  a  look  of  long- 
settled  comfort  to  these  valleys.  Fields,  orchards,  and 
hedgerows,  with  neat  farm  buildings,  and  gardens  full  of 
flowers,  remind  one  of  bits  of  the  old  country  rather  than 
1  Macmillaris  Magazine,  1881. 


X]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  207 

of  the  bare  flowerless  settlements  in  the  West.  But  the 
sight  of  a  group  of  Chinamen  here  and  there  at  work  on 
the  line  dispels  the  momentary  illusion. 

Winding  rapidly  down  a  succession  of  gorges  or  canons 
(for  every  valley  in  the  West  seems  to  be  known  as  a  canon), 
the  traveller  finds  at  last  that  he  has  entered  the  "  Great 
Basin  "  of  North  America,  and  has  arrived  near  the  margin 
of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  Looking  back,  he  perceives  that 
the  route  by  which  he  has  come  is  one  of  many  transverse 
valleys  hollowed  out  of  the  flanks  of  the  noble  range  of  the 
Wahsatch  Mountains.  This  range  serves  at  once  as  the 
western  boundary  of  the  plateau  country  and  as  the  eastern 
rim  of  the  Great  Basin,  into  which  it  plunges  as  a  colossal 
rampart  from  an  average  height  of  some  4000  feet  above 
the  plain,  though  some  of  its  isolated  summits  rise  to  more 
than  twice  that  altitude.  From  the  base  of  this  great 
mountain-wall  the  country  stretches  westward  as  a  vast 
desert  plain,  in  a  slight  depression  of  which  lies  the  Great 
Salt  Lake.  By  industriously  making  use  of  the  drainage 
from  their  mountain  barrier,  the  Mormons  have  converted 
the  strip  of  land  between  the  base  of  the  heights  and  the 
edge  of  the  water  into  fertile  fields  and  well-kept  gardens. 

Everybody  knows  that  the  Great  Basin  has  no  outlet  to 
the  ocean  :  yet  nobody  can  see  the  scene  with  his  own 
eyes  and  refuse  to  admit  the  sense  of  strange  novelty  with 
which  it  fills  his  mind.  One's  first  desire  is  naturally  to 
get  to  the  lake.  From  a  distance  it  looks  blue  enough, 
and  not  different  from  other  sheets  of  water.  But  on  a 
nearer  view  its  shore  is  seen  to  be  a  level  plain  of  salt- 
crusted  mud.  So  gently  does  this  plain  slip  under  the 
water  that  the  actual  margin  of  the  lake  is  not  very  sharply 
drawn.  The  water  has  a  heavy,  motionless,  lifeless  aspect, 
and  is  practically  destitute  of  living  creatures  of  every  kind. 


ao8  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

Fish  are  found  in  the  rivers  leading  into  the  lake,  but  into 
the  lake  itself  they  never  venture.  Nor  did  we  see  any  of  the 
abundant  bird-life  that  would  have  been  visible  on  a  fresh- 
water lake  of  such  dimensions.  There  was  a  stillness  in  the 
air  and  on  the  water  befitting  the  strange  desert  aspect  of 
the  scenery. 

After  looking  at  the  water  for  a  while,  the  next  step  was 
of  course  to  get  into  it.  The  Mormons  and  Gentiles  of 
Salt  Lake  City  make  good  use  of  their  lake  for  bathing 
purposes.  At  convenient  points  they  have  thrown  out 
wooden  piers  provided  with  dressing-rooms  and  hot-watei 
apparatus.  Betaking  ourselves  to  one  of  these  erections, 
my  companion  and  I  were  soon  fitted  out  in  bathing 
costumes  of  approved  pattern,  and  descending  into  the  lake 
at  once  realised  the  heaviness  of  the  water.  In  walking, 
the  leg  that  is  lifted  off  the  bottom  seems  somehow  bent 
on  rising  to  the  surface,  and  some  exertion  is  needed  to 
force  it  down  again  to  the  mud  below.  One  suddenly  feels 
top-heavy,  and  seems  to  need  special  care  not  to  turn  feet 
uppermost.  The  extreme  shallowness  of  the  lake  is  also 
soon  noticed.  We  found  ourselves  at  first  barely  over  the 
knees ;  so  we  proceeded  to  march  into  the  lake.  After  a 
long  journey,  so  long  that  it  seemed  we  ought  to  be  almost 
out  of  sight  of  the  shore,  we  were  scarcely  up  to  the  waist 
At  its  deepest  part  the  lake  is  not  more  than  about  fifty  feet 
in  depth.  Yet  it  measures  eighty  miles  in  length  by  about 
thirty-two  miles  in  extreme  breadth.  We  made  some  experi- 
ments in  flotation,  but  always  with  the  uncomfortable  feeling 
that  our  bodies  were  not  properly  ballasted  for  such  water, 
and  that  we  might  roll  over  or  turn  round  head  down  most 
at  any  moment.  It  is  quite  possible  to  float  in  a  sitting 
posture  with  the  hands'  brought  round  the  knees.  As  one 
of  the  risks  of  these  experiments,  moreover,  the  water  would 


X]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  209 

now  and  then  get  into  our  eyes,  or  find  out  any  half-healed 
wound  which  the  blazing  sun  of  the  previous  weeks  had 
inflicted  upon  our  faces.  So  rapid  is  the  evaporation  in  the 
dry  air  of  this  region  that  the  skin  after  being  wetted  is 
almost  immediately  crusted  with  salt.  I  noticed,  too,  that 
the  wooden  steps  leading  up  to  the  pier  were  hung  with 
slender  stalactites  of  salt  from  the  drip  of  the  bathers. 
After  being  pickled  in  this  fashion  we  had  the  luxury  of 
washing  the  salt  crust  off  with  the  douche  of  hot  water 
wherewith  every  dressing-room  is  provided. 

It  was  strange  to  reflect  that  the  varied  beauty  of  the 
valleys  in  the  neighbouring  mountains,  with  their  meadows, 
clumps  of  cottonwood  trees,  and  rushing  streams,  should 
lead  into  this  lifeless  stagnant  sea.  One  could  not  contem- 
plate the  scene  without  a  strong  interest  in  the  history  of 
the  Great  Salt  Lake.  The  details  of  this  history  have  been 
admirably  worked  out  by  Mr.  G.  K.  Gilbert.  Theoretically, 
we  infer  that  the  salt  lakes  of  continental  basins  were  at 
first  fresh,  and  have  become  salt  by  the  secular  evaporation 
of  their  waters  and  consequent  concentration  of  the  salt 
washed  into  them  from  their  various  drainage  basins.  But 
in  the  case  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake  the  successive  stages  of 
this  long  process  have  been  actually  traced  in  the  records 
left  behind  on  the  surface  of  the  ground.  At  present  the 
amount  of  water  poured  into  the  lake  nearly  balances  the 
amount  lost  by  evaporation,  so  that,  on  the  whole,  the  level 
of  the  lake  is  maintained.  There  are,  however,  oscillations 
of  level  dependent,  no  doubt,  upon  variations  of  rainfall. 
When  the  lake  was  surveyed  by  the  Fortieth  Parallel  Survey 
in  1872,  its  surface  was  found  to  be  eleven  feet  higher  than 
it  was  in  1866.  During  the  last  few  years,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  lake  has  been  diminishing,  The  Mormons  have 
had  to  build  additions  to  the  ends  of  their  bathing  piers, 

p 


210  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

from  which  the  water  had  receded.  There  has  been  con- 
siderable anxiety,  too,  at  Salt  Lake  City,  on  the  subject 
of  the  diminished  rainfall,  which  has  seriously  affected  the 
supply  of  water  for  irrigation  and  other  purposes. 

That  the  aspect  of  this  part  at  least  of  the  Great  Basin 
was  formerly  widely  different  is  conclusively  proved  by 
some  singular  features,  which  are  among  the  first  to  attract 
the  notice  even  of  the  non-scientific  traveller  as  he  journeys 
round  the  borders  of  the  lake.  Along  the  flanks  of  the 
surrounding  mountains  there  runs  a  group  of  parallel  level 
lines,  so  level  indeed  that  when  first  seen  they  suggest  some 
extensive  system  of  carefully-engineered  waterways.  On  a 
far  larger  scale  they  are  the  equivalents  of  our  well-known 
Parallel  Roads  of  Glen  Roy.  Mile  after  mile  they  can  be 
followed,  winding  in  and  out  along  the  mountain  declivities, 
here  and  there  expanding  where  a  streamlet  has  pushed 
out  a  cone  of  detritus,  and  again  narrowing  to  hardly  per- 
ceptible selvages  along  steeper  rocky  faces,  but  always  keep- 
ing their  horizontality  and  their  proper  distance  from  each 
other.  That  these  terraces  are  former  shore -lines  of  the 
lake  admits  of  no  doubt.  The  highest  of  them  is  940  feet 
above  the  present  surface  of  the  lake,  which  is  4250  feet 
above  the  sea.  Hence,  when  the  lake  stood  at  the  line  of 
that  terrace,  its  surface  was  5190  feet  above  sea -level. 
Now,  it  has  been  found  that  the  highest  terrace  corresponds 
with  a  gap  in  the  rim  of  the  basin  lying  considerably  to  the 
north  of  the  existing  margin  of  the  lake.  Consequently, 
when  the  lake  stood  at  its  highest  level  it  had  an  outlet 
northwards  into  the  Snake  River,  draining  into  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  must  thus  have  been  fresh.  Moreover,  search 
in  the  deposits  of  the  highest  terrace  has  brought  to  ligh> 
convincing  proof  of  the  freshness  of  the  water  at  that  time 
for  numerous  shells  have  been  found  belonging  to  laeus 


THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE. 


211 


trine  species.  At  its  greatest  development  the  lake  must 
have  been  vastly  larger  than  now — a  huge  inland  sea  of 
fresh  water  lying  on  the  western  side  of  the  continent,  and 
quite  comparable  with  some  of  the  great  lakes  on  the 
eastern  side.  It  measured  about  300  miles  from  north  to 
south,  and  180  miles  in  extreme  width  from  east  to  west. 
Into  this  great  reservoir  of  fresh  water  fishes  from  the 
tributary  rivers  no  doubt  freely  entered,  so  that,  on  the 
whole,  a  community  of  species  would  be  established 


Fig.   25. — Terraces  of  Great  Salt  Lake,  along  the  flanks  of  the 
Wahsatch  Mountains,  south  of  Salt  Lake  City. 

throughout  the  basin.  But  when,  owing  to  diminution  of 
the  rainfall,  the  lake  no  longer  possessed  an  outlet,  and  in 
the  course  of  ages  grew  gradually  salt,  it  became  unfit  for 
the  support  of  life.  Ever  since  this  degree  of  salinity  was 
reached  the  rivers  have  been  cut  off  from  any  communica- 
tion with  each  other.  These  are  precisely  the  conditions 
which  the  naturalist  most  desires  in  tracing  the  progress  of 


change  in   animal   forms. 


During 


period   which,  in  a 


212  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

geological  sense,  is  comparatively  short,  but  which,  mea- 
sured by  years,  must  be  of  long  duration,  each  river- basin 
has  been  an  isolated  area,  with  its  own  peculiarities  of  rock- 
structure,  slope,  vegetation,  character  of  water,  food,  and 
other  conditions  of  environment  that  tell  so  powerfully  on 
the  evolution  of  organic  types.  A  beginning  has  been 
made  in  working  out  the  natural  history  of  these  basins ; 
but  much  patient  labour  will  be  needed  before  the  story 
can  be  adequately  told.  There  are  probably  few  areas  in 
the  world  which  offer  to  the  student  of  evolution  so  pro- 
mising a  field  of  research. 

In  the  course  of  my  brief  sojourn  in  the  region,  I  was 
able  to  make  an  observation  of  some  interest  in  regard  to 
the  history  of  the  former  wide  enlargement  of  the  Great 
Salt  Lake.  The  Wahsatch  Mountains,  which  rise  so  pic- 
turesquely above  the  narrow  belt  of  Mormon  cultivation 
between  their  base  and  the  edge  of  the  water,  have  their 
higher  parts  more  or  less  covered,  or  at  least  streaked,  with 
snow  even  in  midsummer,  though  at  the  time  of  my  visit, 
by  reason  of  the  great  heat,  and  I  suppose  in  part  also  of 
a  diminished  snowfall,  the  snow  had  almost  entirely  dis- 
appeared. But  any  cause  which  could  lower  the  mean 
summer  temperature  a  few  degrees  would  keep  a  perma- 
nent snow-cap  on  the  summits,  and  a  little  further  decrease 
would  send  glaciers  down  the  valleys.  That  glaciers  for- 
merly did  descend  from  the  central  masses  of  the  Wahsatch 
range  is  put  beyond  question  by  the  scored  and  polished 
rocks,  and  the  huge  piles  of  moraine  detritus  which  they 
have  left  behind  them.  These  phenomena  have  been 
described  by  the  geologists  of  the  Fortieth  Parallel  Survey, 
and  I  could  fully  confirm  their  observations.  But  I  further 
noticed  at  the  Little  Cottonwood  Canon  that  the  moraines 
descend  to  the  edge  of  the  highest  terrace,  and  that  the 


x]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  213 

glacial  rubbish  forms  part  of  the  alluvial  deposits  there. 
Hence  we  may  infer  that  at  the  time  of  the  greatest  exten- 
sion of  the  lake  the  Wahsatch  Mountains  were  a  range 
of  snowy  alps,  from  which  glaciers  descended  to  the  edge 
of  the  water.  Salt  Lake  City  being  nearly  on  the  same 
parallel  of  latitude  with  Naples,  the  change  to  the  former 
topography  would  be  somewhat  as  if  a  lofty  glacier-bearing 
range  took  the  place  of  the  Apennines  in  the  South  of 
Europe. 

One  leading  object  of  our  journey  was  to  see  the  wonders 
of  the  Yellowstone — that  region  of  geysers,  mud  volcanoes, 
hot  springs  and  sinter-beds,  which  the  United  States  Con- 
gress, with  wise  forethought,  has  set  apart  from  settlement 
and  reserved  for  the  instruction  of  the  people.  In  a  few 
years  this  part  of  the  continent  will  no  doubt  be  readily 
accessible  by  rail  and  coach.  At  the  time  of  our  visit  it 
was  still  difficult  of  approach.  We  heard  on  the  way  the 
most  ominous  tales  of  Indian  atrocities  committed  only  a 
year  or  two  before,  and  were  warned  to  be  prepared  for 
something  of  the  kind  in  our  turn.  So  it  was  with  a  little 
misgiving  as  to  the  prudence  of  the  undertaking  that  we 
struck  off  from  the  line  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway  at 
Ogden  and  turned  our  faces  to  the  north.  Ogden  is  the 
centre  at  which  the  railway  from  Salt  Lake  City  and  that 
from  Northern  Utah  and  Idaho  join  the  main  trans-conti- 
nental line.  The  first  part  of  the  journey  passed  pleasantly 
enough.  The  track  is  a  very  narrow  one,  and  the  carriages 
are  proportionately  small  We  started  in  the  evening,  and 
sitting  at  the  end  of  the  last  car  enjoyed  the  glories  of  a 
sunset  over  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  Next  day  about  noon 
brought  us  to  the  end  of  the  railway  in  the  midst  of  a  desert 
of  black  basalt  and  loose  sand,  with  a  tornado  blowing  the 
hot  desert  dust  in  blinding  clouds  through  the  air.  It  was 


214  •  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

the  oddest  "  terminus  "  conceivable,  consisting  of  about  a 
score  of  wooden  booths  stuck  down  at  random,  with  rows 
of  freight  waggons  mixed  up  among  them,  and  a  miscel- 
laneous population  of  a  thoroughly  Western  kind.  In  a 
fortnight  afterwards  the  railway  was  to  be  opened  some 
fifty  miles  farther  north,  and  the  whole  town  and  its  inhabit- 
ants would  then  move  to  the  new  terminus.  Some  weeks 
afterwards,  indeed,  we  returned  by  rail  over  the  same  track, 
and  the  only  traces  of  our  mushroom  town  were  the  tin 
biscuit-boxes,  preserved-meat  cans,  and  other  debris  scattered 
about  on  the  desert  and  too  heavy  for  the  wind  to  disperse. 
With  this  cessation  of  the  railway  all  comfort  in  travel- 
ling utterly  disappeared.  A  "  stage,"  loaded  inside  and 
outside  with  packages,  but  supposed  to  be  capable  of  carry- 
ing eight  passengers  besides,  was  now  to  be  our  mode  of 
conveyance  over  the  bare,  burning,  treeless,  and  roadless 
desert.  The  recollection  of  those  two  days  and  nights 
stands  out  as  a  kind  of  nightmare.  I  gladly  omit  further 
reference  to  them.  There  should  have  been  a  third  day 
and  night,  but  by  what  proved  a  fortunate  accident  we 
escaped  this  prolongation  of  the  horror.  Reaching  Virginia 
City  (!),  a  collection  of  miserable  wooden  houses,  many  of 
them  deserted — for  the  gold  of  the  valley  is  exhausted, 
though  many  Chinese  are  there  working  over  the  old  refuse 
heaps — we  learnt  that  we  were  too  late  for  the  stage  to 
Boseman.  Meeting,  however,  a  resident  from  Boseman  as 
anxious  to  be  there  as  ourselves,  we  secured  a  carriage  and 
were  soon  again  in  motion.  By  one  of  the  rapid  meteoro- 
logical changes  not  infrequent  at  such  altitudes,  the  weather, 
which  had  before  been  warm,  and  sometimes  even  hot,  now 
became  for  a  day  or  two  disagreeably  chilly.  As  we  crossed 
a  ridge  into  the  valley  6f  the  Madison  River,  snow  fell,  and 
the  mountain  crests  had  had  their  first  whitening  for  the 


THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE. 


215 


season  when  we  caught  sight  of  them,  peak  beyond  peak, 
far  up  into  the  southern  horizon.  This  valley  contained 
the  first  illustrations  we  had  yet  seen  of  those  vast  alluvial 
accumulations  which  formed  so  marked  a  feature  of  many 
of  the  larger  rivers  of  Western  America  where  they  de- 
bouch from  the  mountains.  Across  the  whole  broad  plain, 
evidently  of  alluvial  origin,  the  Madison  had  worked  its 
way  from  side  to  side.  From  the  mouths  of  the  principal 
tributary  valleys  higher  terraces  of  alluvium  opened  out 
upon  the  main  valley,  each  affluent  projecting  a  tongue  of 
detritus  from  the  base  of  the  hills  (Fig.  26).  Night  had 
fallen  when  we  crossed  the  Madison  River  below  its  last 


'/'/*// 


, 


Fig.  26. — Alluvial  Cones  of  the  Madison  Valley. 

canon,  and  further  progress  became  impossible.  There  was 
a  "  ranch,"  or  cattle-farm,  not  far  off,  where  our  companion 
had  slept  before,  and  where  he  proposed  that  we  should 
demand  quarters  for  the  night.  A  good-natured  welcome 
reconciled  us  to  rough  fare  and  hard  beds. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  third  day  we  at  length  reached 
Boseman,  the  last  collection  of  houses  between  us  and  the 
Yellowstone.  A  few  miles  beyond  it  stands  Fort  Ellis,  a 
post  of  the  United  States  army,  built  to  command  an 
important  pass  from  the  territory  to  the  east  still  haunted 
by  Indians.  Through  the  kind  thoughtfulness  of  my  friend 


216  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

Dr.  Hayden,  I  had  been  provided  with  letters  of  intro- 
duction from  the  authorities  at  Washington  to  the  com- 
mandants of  posts  in  the  West.  I  found  my  arrival 
expected  at  Fort  Ellis,  and  the  quartermaster  happened 
himself  to  have  come  down  to  Boseman.  Before  the  end 
of  the  afternoon  we  were  once  more  in  comfort  under  his 
friendly  roof.  And  here  I  am  reminded  of  an  incident  at 
Boseman  which  brought  out  one  of  the  characteristics  of 
travel  in  America,  and  particularly  in  the  West.  It  may 
be  supposed  that  after  so  long  and  so  dusty  a  journey  our 
boots  were  not  without  the  need  of  being  blacked.  Having 
had  luncheon  at  the  hotel,  I  inquired  of  the  waiter  where 
I  should  go  to  get  this  done.  He  directed  me  to  the 
clerk  in  the  office.  This  formidable  personage,  seated  at 
his  ledger,  quietly  remarked  to  me,  without  raising  his  eyes 
off  his  pen,  that  he  guessed  I  could  find  the  materials  in 
the  corner.  And  there,  true  enough,  were  blacking -pot 
and  brush,  with  which  every  guest  might  essay  to  polish  his 
boots  or  not,  as  he  pleased.  In  journeying  westward  we 
had  sometimes  seen  a  placard  stuck  up  in  the  bedrooms  of 
the  hotels  to  the  effect  that  ladies,  and  gentlemen  putting 
their  boots  outside  their  doors  must  be  understood  to  do  so 
at  their  own  risk.  In  the  larger  hotels  a  shoe-black  is  one 
of  the  recognised  functionaries,  with  his  room  and  chair  of 
state  for  those  who  think  it  needful  to  employ  him. 

Of  Fort  Ellis  and  the  officers'  mess  there,  we  shall  evei 
keep  the  pleasantest  memories.  No  Indians  nad  now  to 
be  kept  in  order.  There  was  indeed  nothing  to  do  at  the 
Fort  save  the  daily  routine  of  military  duty.  A  very  small 
incident  in  such  circumstances  is  enough  to  furnish  amuse- 
ment  and  conversation  for  an  evening.  We  made  an 
excursion  into  the  hills  to  the  south,  and  had  the  satisfac- 
tion of  starting  a  black  bear  from  a  cover  of  thick  herbage 


x]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  217 

almost  below  our  feet.  Not  one  of  the  party  happened  to 
have  brought  a  rifle,  and  the  animal  was  rapidly  out  of 
reach  of  our  revolvers,  as  he  raced  up  the  steep  side  of  the 
valley,  and  took  refuge  among  the  crags  and  caves  of  lime- 
stone at  the  top. 

Being  assured  that  the  Yellowstone  country  was  per- 
fectly safe,  that  we  should  probably  see  no  Indians  at  all, 
and  that  any  who  might  cross  our  path  belonged  to  friendly 
tribes,  and  being  further  anxious  to  avoid  having  to  return 
and  repeat  that  dismal  stage  journey,  we  arranged  to  travel 
through  the  "Yellowstone  Park,"  as  it  is  termed,  and 
through  the  mountains  encircling  the  head -waters  of  the 
Snake  River,  so  as  to  strike  the  railway  not  far  from  where 
we  had  left  it.  This  involved  a  ride  of  somewhere  about 
300  miles  through  a  mountainous  region  still  in  its  abori- 
ginal loneliness.  By  the  care  of  Lieutenant  Alison,  the 
quartermaster  of  the  Fort,  and  the  liberality  of  the  army 
authorities,  we  were  furnished  with  horses  and  a  pack-train 
of  mules,  under  an  escort  of  two  men,  one  of  whom,  Jack 
Bean  by  name,  had  for  many  years  lived  among  the  wilds 
through  which  we  were  to  pass,  as  trapper  and  miner  by 
turns ;  the  other,  a  soldier  in  the  cavalry  detachment  at  the 
Fort,  went  by  the  name  of  "  Andy,"  and  acted  as  cook  and 
leader  of  the  mules.  The  smaller  the  party,  the  quicker 
could  we  get  through  the  mountains,  and  as  rapidity  of 
movement  was  necessary,  we  gladly  availed  ourselves  of  the 
quartermaster's  arrangements.  Provisions  were  taken  in 
quantity  sufficient  for  the  expedition,  but  it  was  expected 
we  should  be  able  to  add  to  our  larder  an  occasional 
haunch  of  antelope  or  elk,  which  in  good  time  we  did. 
So,  full  of  expectation,  we  bade  adieu,  not  without  regret, 
to  our  friends  at  Fort  Ellis,  and  set  out  upon  our  quest. 

The  reader  may  be  reminded  here  that  the  Yellowstone 


218  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

River  has  its  head-waters  close  to  the  watershed  of  the 
continent,  among  the  mountains  which,  branching  out  in 
different  directions,  include  the  ranges  of  the  Wind  River, 
Owl  Creek,  Shoshonee,  the  Tetons,  and  other  groups 
that  have  hardly  yet  received  names.  Its  course  at  first 
is  nearly  north,  passing  out  of  the  lake  where  its  upper 
tributaries  collect  their  drainage,  through  a  series  of  remark- 
able canons  till  about  the  latitude  of  Fort  Ellis,  after  which 
it  bends  round  to  the  eastward,  and  eventually  falls  into  the 
Missouri.  We  struck  the  river  just  above  its  lowest  canon 
in  Montana.  It  is  there  already  a  noble  stream,  winding 
through  a  broad  alluvial  valley,  flanked  with  hills  on  either 
side,  those  on  the  right  or  east  bank  towering  up  into  one 
of  the  noblest  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Here,  as 
well  as  on  the  Madison,  we  met  with  illustrations  on  a 
magnificent  scale  of  the  general  law  of  valley  structure, 
that  every  gorge  formed  by  the  convergence  of  the  hills  on 
either  side  has  an  expansion  of  the  valley  into  a  lake-like 
plain  on  its  upper  side.  For  several  hours  we  rode  along 
this  plain  among  mounds  of  detritus,  grouped  in  that 
crescent-shaped  arrangement  so  characteristic  of  glacier- 
moraines.  Large  blocks  of  crystalline  rock,  quite  unlike 
the  volcanic  masses  along  which  we  were  travelling,  lay 
tossed  about  among  the  mounds.  One  mass  in  particular, 
lying  far  off  in  the  middle  of  the  valley,  looked  at  first  like 
a  solitary  cottage.  Crossing  to  it,  however,  we  found  it 
to  be  only  a  huge  erratic  of  the  usual  granitoid  gneiss. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  about  the  massiveness  of  the 
glaciers  that  once  filled  up  the  valley  of  the  Yellowstone. 
The  moraine  mounds  extend  across  the  plain  and  mount 
the  bases  of  the  hills  on  either  side.  The  glacier  which 
shed  them  must  consequently  have  been  here  a  mile  01 
more  in  breadth.  All  the  way  up  the  valley  we  were  on 


x] 


THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE. 


219 


the  outlook  for  evidence  as  to  the  thickness  of  the  ice, 
which  might  be  revealed  by  the  height  at  which  either 
transported  blocks  had  been  stranded  or  a  polished  and 
striated  surface  had  been  left  upon  the  rocks  of  the  valley. 
We  were  fortunate  in  meeting  with  evidence  of  both  kinds. 
I  shall  not  soon  forget  my  astonishment  on  entering 
the  second  canon.  We  had  made  our  first  camp  someway 
farther  down,  and  before  striking  the  tent  in  the  morning 
had  mounted  the  hills  on  the  left  side  and  observed  how 


Fig.  27. — Terraces  below  the  second  canon  of  the  Yellowstone. 

the  detritus  (glacial  detritus,  as  we  believed  it  to  be)  had 
been  re-arranged  and  spread  out  into  terraces  (Fig.  27), 
either  by  the  river  when  at  a  much  higher  level  than  that 
at  which  it  now  flows,  or  by  a  lake  which  evidently  once 
filled  up  the  broad  expansion  of  the  valley  between  the 
two  lowest  canons.  We  were  prepared,  therefore,  for  the 
discovery  of  still  more  striking  proof  of  the  power  and 
magnitude  of  the  old  glaciers,  but  never  anticipated  that  so 


220  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

gigantic  and  perfect  a  piece  of  ice-work  as  the  second 
canon  was  in  store  for  us.  From  a  narrow  gorge,  the  sides 
of  which  rise  to  heights  of  1000  feet  or  more,  the  river 
darts  out  into  the  plain  which  we  had  been  traversing. 
The  rocky  sides  of  this  ravine  are  smoothly  polished  and 
striated  from  the  bottom  up  apparently  to  the  top.  Some 
of  the  detached  knobs  of  schist  rising  out  of  the  plain  at 
the  mouth  of  the  canon  were  as  fresh  in  their  ice-polish  as 
if  the  glacier  had  only  recently  retired  from  them.  The 
scene  reminded  me  more  of  the  valley  of  the  Aar  above 
the  Grimsel  than  of  any  other  European  glacier-ground. 
As  we  rode  up  the  gorge  with  here  and  there  just  room  to 
pass  between  the  rushing  river  and  the  rocky  declivity,  we 
could  trace  the  ice-worn  bosses  of  schist  far  up  the  heights 
till  they  lost  themselves  among  the  pines.  The  frosts  of 
winter  are  slowly  effacing  the  surfaces  sculptured  by  the 
vanished  glacier.  Huge  angular  blocks  are  from  time  to 
time  detached  from  the  crags  and  join  the  piles  of  detritus 
at  the  bottom.  But  where  the  ice-polished  surfaces  are 
not  much  traversed  with  joints  they  have  a  marvellous 
power  of  endurance.  Hence  they  may  have  utterly  disap- 
peared from  one  part  of  a  rock-face  and  remain  perfectly 
preserved  on  another  adjoining  part.  There  could  be  no 
doubt  now  that  the  Yellowstone  glacier  was  massive  enough 
to  fill  up  the  second  canon  to  the  brim,  that  is  to  say,  it 
must  have  been  there  at  least  800  or  1000  feet  thick- 
But  in  the  course  of  our  ascent  we  obtained  proof  that  the 
thickness  was  even  greater  than  this,  for  we  found  that 
the  ice  had  perched  blocks  of  granite  and  gneiss  on  the 
sides  of  the  volcanic  hills  not  less  than  1600  feet  above 
the  present  plain  of  the  river,  and  that  it  not  merely  filled 
up  the  main  valley,  but  actually  over-rode  the  bounding 
hills  so  as  to  pass  into  some  of  the  adjacent  valleys.  That 


x]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  221 

glaciers  once  nestled  in  these  mountains  might  have  been 
readily  anticipated,  but  it  was  important  to  be  able  to  de- 
monstrate their  former  existence,  and  to  show  that  they 
attained  such  a  magnitude. 

The  glaciers,  however,  were  after  all  an  unexpected  or 
incidental  kind  of  game.  We  were  really  on  the  trail  of 
volcanic  productions,  and  devoted  most  of  our  time  to  the 
hunt  after  them.  The  valley  of  the  Yellowstone  is  of  high 
antiquity.  It  has  been  excavated  partly  out  of  ancient 
crystalline  rocks,  partly  out  of  later  stratified  formations, 
and  partly  out  of  masses  of  lava  that  have  been  erupted 
during  a  long  succession  of  ages.  Here  and  there  it  has 
been  invaded  by  streams  of  basalt,  which  have  subsequently 
been  laboriously  cut  through  by  the  river.  In  the  whole 
course  of  our  journey  through  the  volcanic  region  we  found 
that  the  oldest  lavas  were  trachytes  and  their  allies,  while 
the  youngest  were  as  invariably  basalts,  the  interval  between 
the  eruption  of  the  two  kinds  having  sometimes  been  long 
enough  to  permit  the  older  rocks  to  be  excavated  into 
gorges  before  the  emission  of  the  more  recent.  Even  the 
youngest,  however,  must  have  been  poured  out  a  long 
while  ago,  for  they  too  have  been  deeply  trenched  by  the 
slow  erosive  power  of  running  water.  But  the  volcanic 
fires  are  not  yet  wholly  extinguished  in  the  region.  No 
lava,  indeed,  is  now  emitted,  but  there  are  plentiful  proofs 
of  the  great  heat  that  still  exists  but  a  short  way  below 
the  surface. 

Quitting  the  moraine  mounds  of  the  Yellowstone  Valley, 
which  above  the  second  canon  become  still  more  abundant 
and  perfect,  we  ascended  the  tributary  known  as  Gardiner's 
River,  and  camped  in  view  of  the  hot  springs.  The  first 
glimpse  of  this  singular  scene,  caught  from  the  crest  of 
a  dividing  ridge,  recalls  the  termination  of  a  glacier.  A 


222  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [X 

mass  of  snowy  whiteness  protrudes  from  a  lateral  pine-clad 
valley,  and  presents  a  steep  front  to  the  narrow  plain  at  its 
base.  The  contrast  between  it  and  the  sombre  hue  of  the 
pines  all  round  heightens  the  resemblance  of  its  form  and 
aspect  to  a  mass  of  ice.  It  is  all  solid  rock,  however, 
deposited  by  the  hot  water  which,  issuing  from  innumer- 
able openings  down  the  valley,  has  in  course  of  time  filled 
it  up  with  this  white  sinter.  Columns  of  steam  rising  from 
the  mass  bore  witness,  even  at  a  distance,  to  the  nature  of 
the  locality.  We  wandered  over  this  singular  accumulation, 
each  of  us  searching  for  a  pool  cool  enough  to  be  used  as  a 
bath.  I  found  one  where  the  water,  after  quitting  its  con- 
duit, made  a  circuit  round  a  basin  of  sinter,  and  in  so 
doing  cooled  down  sufficiently  to  let  one  sit  in  it  The 
top  of  the  mound,  and  indeed  those  parts  of  the  deposit 
generally  from  which  the  water  has  retreated,  and  which 
are  therefore  dry  and  exposed  to  the  weather,  are  apt  to 
crack  into  thin  shells  or  to  crumble  into  white  powder. 
But  along  the  steep  front,  from  which  most  of  the  springs 
escape,  the  water  collects  into  basins  at  many  different 
levels.  Each  of  these  basins  has  the  most  exquisitely 
fretted  rim.  It  is  at  their  margins  that  evaporation  pro- 
ceeds most  vigorously  and  deposition  takes  place  most 
rapidly,  hence  the  rim  is  being  constantly  added  to.  The 
colours  of  these  wavy,  frill -like  borders  are  sometimes 
remarkably  vivid.  The  sinter,  where  moist  or  fresh,  has  a 
delicate  pink  or  salmon-coloured  hue  that  deepens  along 
the  edge  of  each  basin  into  rich  yellows,  browns,  and  reds. 
Where  the  water  has  trickled  over  the  steep  front  from 
basin  to  basin,  the  sinter  has  assumed  smooth  curved 
forms  like  the  sweep  of  unbroken  waterfalls.  At  many 
points,  indeed,  as  one  scrambles  along  that  front,  the  idea 
of  a  series  of  frozen  waterfalls  rises  in  the  mind.  There 


x]  THF  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  221 

are  no  eruptive  springs  or  geysers  at  this  locality  now, 
though  a  large  pillar  of  sinter  on  the  plain  below  probably 
marks  the  site  of  one.  Jack  assured  us  that  even  since  the 
time  he  had  first  been  up  here,  some  ten  years  before,  the 
water  had  perceptibly  diminished. 

The  contrast  between  the  heat  below  and  the  cold 
above  ground  at  nights  was  sometimes  very  great.  We 
used  to  rise  about  daybreak,  and  repairing  to  the  nearest 
brook  or  river  for  ablution,  sometimes  found  a  crust  of  ice 
on  its  quiet  pools.  One  night,  indeed,  the  thermometer 
fell  to  19°,  and  my  sponge,  lying  in  its  bag  inside  our  tent, 
was  solidly  frozen,  so  that  I  could  have  broken  it  with  my 
hammer.  The  camping-ground,  selected  where  wood, 
water,  and  forage  for  the  animals  could  be  had  together, 
was  usually  reached  by  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
so  that  we  had  still  several  hours  of  daylight  for  sketching, 
or  any  exploration  which  the  locality  seemed  to  invite. 
About  sunset  Andy's  fire  had  cooked  our  dinner,  which  we 
set  out  on  the  wooden  box  that  held  our  cooking  imple- 
ments. Then  came  the  camp-fire  stories,  of  which  our 
companions  had  a  sufficient  supply.  Andy,  in  particular, 
would  never  be  outdone.  Nothing  marvellous  was  told 
that  he  could  not  instantly  cap  with  something  more 
wonderful  still  that  had  happened  in  his  own  experience. 
What  distances  he  had  ridden  !  What  hairbreadth  escapes 
from  Indians  he  had  gone  through !  What  marvels  of 
nature  he  had  seen !  And  all  the  while,  as  the  tales  went 
round  and  the  fire  burnt  low  or  was  wakened  into  fiercer 
blaze  by  piles  of  pine  logs  hewn  down  by  Jack's  diligent 
axe,  the  stars  were  coming  out  in  the  sky  overhead.  Such 
a  canopy  to  sleep  under !  Wrapping  myself  round  in  my 
travelling  cloak,  I  used  to  lie  apart  for  a  while  gazing  up 
at  that  sky  so  clear,  so  sparkling,  so  utterly  and  almost 


224  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [X 

incredibly  different  from  the  bleared  cloudy  expanse  we 
must  usually  be  content  with  at  home.  Every  familiar 
constellation  had  a  brilliancy  we  never  see  through  our 
moisture-laden  atmosphere.  It  seemed  to  swim  overhead, 
while  behind  and  beyond  it  the  heavens  were  aglow  with 
stars  that  are  hardly  ever  visible  here  at  all.  These  quiet 
half -hours  with  the  quiet  stars,  amid  the  silence  of  the 
primeval  forest,  are  among  the  most  delightful  recollections 
of  the  journey. 

Our  mules  were  a  constant  source  of  amusement  to  us 
and  of  execration  to  Jack  and  Andy.  Andy  led  the  party 
with  his  loaded  rifle  slung  in  front  of  his  saddle  ready  for 
any  service.  After  him  came  the  string  of  mules  with  their 
packs,  followed  by  Jack,  who  with  volleys  of  abuse  and 
frequent  applications  of  a  leathern  saddle-trap,  endeavoured 
to  keep  up  their  pace  and  preserve  them  in  line.  My 
friend  and  I  varied  our  position,  sometimes  riding  on  ahead 
and  having  the  pleasure  of  first  starting  any  game  that 
might  be  in  our  way,  more  frequently  lingering  behind  to 
enjoy  quietly  some  of  the  delicious  glades  in  the  forest. 
But  we  could  never  get  far  out  of  hearing  of  the  whack 
of  Jack's  belt  or  the  fierce  whoop  with  which  he  would 
ever  and  anon  charge  the  rearmost  mules  and  send  them 
scampering  on  till  every  spoon,  knife,  and  tin -can  in  the 
boxes  rattled  and  jingled.  The  proper  packing  of  a  mule 
is  an  art  that  requires  considerable  skill  and  practice,  and 
Jack  was  a  thorough  master  of  the  craft.  After  breakfast 
he  used  to  collect  the  animals,  while  Andy  made  up  the 
packs,  and  the  two  together  proceeded  to  the  packing. 
Such  tugging  and  pulling  and  kicking  on  the  part  of  men 
and  mules !  The  quadrupeds,  however,  whatever  their 
feelings  might  be,  'gave  no  audible  vent  to  them.  But 
the  men  found  relief  in  such  fusillades  of  swearing  as  I 


X]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  225 

had  never  before  heard  or  even  imagined.  I  ventured  one 
morning  to  ask  whether  the  oaths  were  a  help  to  them  in 
the  packing.  Jack  assured  me  that  if  I  had  them  mules 
to  pack  he'd  give  me  two  days,  and  at  the  end  of  that  he'd 
bet  I'd  swear  myself  worse  than  any  of  them.  Another 
morning  Andy  was  hanging  his  coat  on  a  branch  project- 
ing near  the  camp  fire.  The  coat,  however,  fell  off  the 
branch  and  was,  as  a  matter  of  course,  greeted  by  its  owner 
with  an  execration.  It  was  put  up  again,  and  again  slipped 
down.  This  was  repeated  two  or  three  times,  and  each 
time  the  language  was  getting  fiercer  and  louder.  At  last, 
when  the  operation  was  successfully  completed,  I  asked 
him  of  what  use  all  the  swearing  at  the  coat  had  been. 
"  Wall,  boss,"  rejoined  he  triumphantly,  "  don't  ye  see  the 
darned  thing's  stuck  up  now  ? "  This  I  felt  was,  under 
the  circumstances,  an  unanswerable  argument.  Western 
teamsters  are  renowned  for  their  powers  of  continuous 
execration.  I  myself  heard  one  swear  uninterruptedly 
for  about  ten  minutes  at  a  man  who  was  not  present,  but 
who,  it  seemed,  was  doomed  to  the  most  horrible  destruc- 
tion, body  and  soul,  as  soon  as  this  bloodthirsty  ruffian 
caught  sight  of  him  again,  either  in  this  world  or  the  next. 

From  Gardiner's  River  we  made  a  detour  over  a  long 
ridge  dotted  with  ice-borne  blocks  of  granite  and  gneiss, 
and  crossed  the  shoulder  of  Mount  Washburne  by  a  col 
8867  feet  above  the  sea,  descending  once  more  to  the 
Yellowstone  River  at  the  head  of  the  Grand  Canon.  The 
whole  of  this  region  consists  of  volcanic  rocks,  chiefly 
trachytes,  rhyolites,  obsidians,  and  tuffs.  We  chose  as  our 
camping-ground  a  knoll  under  a  clump  of  tall  pines,  with 
a  streamlet  of  fresh  water  flowing  below  it  in  haste  to  join 
the  main  river,  which,  though  out  of  sight,  was  audible  in 
the  hoarse  thunder  of  its  falls.  Impatient  to  see  this 

Q 


226  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

ravine,  of  whose  marvels  we  had  heard  much,  we  left  die 
mules  rolling  on  the  ground  and  our  packets  getting  the 
camp  into  shape,  and  struck  through  the  forest  in  the 
direction  of  the  roar.  Unprepared  for  anything  so  vast, 
we  emerged  from  the  last  fringe  of  the  woods,  and  stood 
on  the  brink  of  the  great  chasm  silent  with  amazement. 

The  Grand  Canon  of  the  Yellowstone  is  a  ravine  from 
1000  to  1500  feet  deep.  Where  its  shelving  sides  meet 
at  the  bottom  there  is  little  more  than  room  for  the  river 
to  flow  between  them,  but  it  widens  irregularly  upwards. 
It  has  been  excavated  out  of  a  series  of  volcanic  rocks  by 
the  flow  of  the  river  itself.  The  waterfalls,  of  which  there 
are  here  two,  have  crept  backward,  gradually  eating  their 
way  out  of  the  lavas  and  leaving  below  them  the  ravine  of 
the  Grand  Canon.  The  weather  has  acted  on  the  sides  of 
the  gorge,  scarping  some  parts  into  precipitous  crags,  and 
scooping  others  back,  so  that  each  side  presents  a  series  of 
projecting  bastions  and  semi-circular  sloping  recesses.  The 
dark  forests  of  pine  that  fill  the  valley  above  sweep  down 
to  the  very  brink  of  the  gorge  on  both  sides.  Such  is  the 
general  plan  of  the  place ;  but  it  is  hardly  possible  to 
convey  in  words  a  picture  of  the  impressive  grandeur  of 
the  scene. 

We  spent  a  long  day  sketching  and  wandering  by  the 
side  of  the  canon.  Scrambling  to  the  edge  of  one  of  the 
bastions  and  looking  down,  we  could  see  the  river  far  below 
dwarfed  to  a  mere  silver  thread.  From  this  abyss  the 
crags  and  slopes  towered  up  in  endless  variety  of  form,  and 
with  the  weirdest  mingling  of  colours.  Much  of  the  rock, 
especially  of  the  more  crumbling  slopes,  was  of  a  pale 
sulphur  yellow.  Through  this  groundwork  harder  masses 
of  dull  scarlet,  merging  into  purple  and  crimson,  rose  into 
craggy  knobs  and  pinnacles,  or  shot  up  in  sheer  vertical 


x]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  227 

walls.  In  the  sunlight  of  the  morning  the  place  is  a  blaze 
of  strange  colour,  such  as  one  can  hardly  see  anywhere  save 
in  the  crater  of  an  active  volcano.  But  as  the  day  wanes 
the  shades  of  evening,  sinking  gently  into  the  depths,  blend 
their  livid  tints  into  a  strange  mysterious  gloom,  through 
which  one  can  still  see  the  white  gleam  of  the  rushing 
river  and  hear  the  distant  murmur  of  its  flow.  Now  is  the 
time  to  see  the  full  majesty  of  the  canon.  Perched  on  an 
outstanding  crag  one  can  look  down  the  ravine  and  mark 
headland  behind  headland  mounting  out  of  the  gathering 
shadows  and  catching  up  on  their  scarred  fronts  of  yellow 
and  red  the  mellower  tints  of  the  sinking  sun.  And  above 
all  lie  the  dark  folds  of  pine  sweeping  along  the  crests 
of  the  precipices,  which  they  crown  with  a  rim  of  sombre 
green.  There  are  gorges  of  far  more  imposing  magnitude 
in  the  Colorado  Basin,  but  for  dimensions  large  enough  to 
be  profoundly  striking,  yet  not  too  vast  to  be  taken  in  by 
the  eye  at  once,  for  infinite  changes  of  picturesque  detail, 
and  for  brilliancy  and  endless  variety  of  colouring,  there 
are  probably  few  scenes  in  the  world  more  impressive  than 
the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Yellowstone.  Such  at  least  were 
the  feelings  with  which  we  reluctantly  left  it  to  resume  our 
journey. 

The  next  goal  for  which  we  made  was  the  Geyser  Basin 
of  the  Firehole  River — a  ride  of  two  days,  chiefly  through 
forest,  but  partly  over  bare  volcanic  hills.  Some  portions 
of  this  ride  led  into  open  parklike  glades  in  the  forest, 
where  it  seemed  as  if  no  human  foot  had  ever  preceded 
us ;  not  a  trail  of  any  kind  was  to  be  seen.  Here  and 
there,  however,  we  noticed  footprints  of  bears,  and  some  of 
the  trees  had  their  bark  plentifully  scratched  at  a  height  of 
three  or  four  feet  from  the  ground,  where,  as  Jack  said, 
"the  bears  had  been  sharpening  their  claws."  Deer  of 


228  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

different  kinds  were  not  uncommon,  and  we  shot  enough 
to  supply  our  diminishing  larder.  Now  and  then  we  came 
upon  a  skunk  or  a  badger,  and  at  night  we  could  hear  the 
mingled  bark  and  howl  of  the  wolves.  Andy's  rifle  was 
always  ready,  and  he  blazed  away  at  everything.  As  he  rode 
at  the  head  of  the  party  the  first  intimation  those  behind 
had  of  any  game  afoot  was  the  crack  of  his  rifle,  followed 
by  the  immediate  stampede  of  the  mules  and  a  round  of 
execration  from  Jack.  I  do  not  remember  that  he  ever 
shot  anything  save  one  wild  duck,  which  immediately  sank, 
or  at  least  could  not  be  found. 

Reaching  at  length  the  Upper  Geyser  Basin,  we  camped 
by  the  river  in  the  only  group  of  trees  in  the  immediate 
neighbourhood  that  had  not  been  invaded  by  the  sheets  of 
white  sinter  which  spread  out  all  round  on  both  sides  of 
the  river.  There  were  hot  springs,  and  spouting  geysers, 
and  steaming  caldrons  of  boiling  water  in  every  direction. 
We  had  passed-  many  openings  by  the  way  whence  steam 
issued.  In  fact,  in  some  parts  of  the  route  we  seemed  to 
be  riding  over  a  mere  crust  between  the  air  above  and  a 
huge  boiling  vat  below.  At  one  place  the  hind  foot  of 
one  of  the  horses  went  through  this  crust,  and  a  day  or  two 
afterwards,  repassing  the  spot,  we  saw  it  steaming.  But  we 
had  come  upon  no  actual  eruptive  geyser.  In  this  basin, 
however,  there  is  one  geyser  which,  ever  since  the  discovery 
of  the  region  some  ten  years  ago,  has  been  remarkably 
regular  in  its  action.  It  has  an  eruption  once  every  hour 
and  a  few  minutes  more.  The  kindly  name  of  "  Old 
Faithful "  has  accordingly  been  bestowed  upon  it.  We  at 
once  betook  ourselves  to  this  vent.  It  stands  upon  a  low 
mound  of  sinter,  which,  seen  from  a  little  distance,  looks  as 
if  built  up  of  successive  sheets  piled  one  upon  another. 
The  stratified  appearance,  however,  is  due  to  the  same 


x] 


THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE. 


229 


tendency  to  form  basins  so  marked  at  the  Hot  Springs  on 
Gardiner's  River.  These  basins  are  bordered  with  the  same 
banded,  brightly-coloured  rims  which,  running  in  level  lines, 
give  the  stratified  look  to  the  mound.  On  the  top  the 
sinter  has  gathered  into  huge  dome-shaped  or  coral-like 
lumps,  in  the  midst  of  which  lies  the  vent  of  the  geyser — a 
hole  not  more  than  a  couple  of  feet  or  so  in  diameter — 


Fig.  28.—  "  Old  Faithful  "  in  eruption. 

whence  steam  constantly  issues.  When  we  arrived  a  con- 
siderable agitation  was  perceptible.  The  water  was  surging 
up  and  down  a  short  distance  below,  and  when  we  could 
not  see  it  for  the  cloud  of  vapour  its  gurgling  noise  remained 
distinctly  audible.  We  had  not  long  to  wait  before  the 
water  began  to  be  jerked  out  in  occasional  spurts.  Then 
suddenly,  with  a  tremendous  roar,  a  column  of  mingled 
water  and  steam  rushed  up  for  120  feet  into  the  air,  falling 


230  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

in  a  torrent  over  the  mound,  the  surface  of  which  now 
streamed  with  water,  while  its  strange  volcanic  colours 
glowed  vividly  in  the  sunlight.  A  copious  stream  of  still 
steaming  water  rushed  off  by  the  nearest  channels  to  the 
river.  The  whole  eruption  did  not  last  longer  than  about 
five  minutes,  after  which  the  water  sank  in  the  funnel,  and 
the  same  restless  gurgitation  was  resumed.  Again,  at  the 
usual  interval,  another  outburst  of  the  same  kind  and 
intensity  took  place. 

Though  the  most  frequent  and  regular  in  its  movements, 
"  Old  Faithful "  is  by  no  means  the  most  imposing  of  the 
geysers  either  in  the  volume  of  its  discharge  or  in  the  height 
to  which  it  erupts.  The  "Giant"  and  "Beehive"  both 
surpass  it,  but  are  fitful  in  their  action,  intervals  of  several 
days  occurring  between  successive  explosions.  Both  of 
them  remained  tantalisingly  quiet,  nor  could  they  be  pro- 
voked by  throwing  stones  down  their  throats  to  do  anything 
for  our  amusement.  The  "  Castle  Geyser,"  however,  was 
more  accommodating.  It  presented  us  with  a  magnificent 
eruption.  A  far  larger  body  of  water  than  at  "  Old 
Faithful "  was  hurled  into  the  air,  and  continued  to  rise  for 
more  than  double  the  time.  It  was  interesting  to  watch 
the  rocket-like  projectiles  of  water  and  steam  that  shot 
through  and  out  of  the  main  column,  and  burst  into  a 
shower  of  drops  outside.  At  intervals,  as  the  energy  of 
discharge  oscillated,  the  column  would  sink  a  little,  and 
then  would  mount  up  again  as  high  as  before,  with  a 'hiss 
and  roar  that  must  have  been  audible  all  round  the  geyser 
basin,  while  the  ground  near  the  geyser  perceptibly  trembled. 
I  had  been  sketching  close  to  the  spot  when  the  eruption 
began,  and  in  three  minutes  the  place  where  I  had  been 
sitting  was  the  bed  of  a  rapid  torrent  of  hot  water  rushing 
over  the  sinter  floor  to  the  river. 


x]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  231 

Without  wearying  the  reader  with  details  that  possess 
interest  only  for  geologists,  I  may  be  allowed  to  refer  to 
one  part  of  the  structure  of  these  geyser  mounds  which  is 
not  a  little  curious  and  puzzling — the  want  of  sympathy 
between  closely  adjacent  vents.  At  the  summit  of  a  mound 
the  top  of  the  subterranean  column  of  boiling  water  can  be 
seen  about  a  yard  from  the  surface  in  a  constant  state  of 
commotion,  while  at  the  base  of  the  mound,  at  a  level  thirty 
or  forty  feet  lower,  lie  quiet  pools  of  steaming  water,  some 
of  them  with  a  point  of  ebullition  in  their  centre.  There 
can  be  no  direct  connection  between  these  pipes.  Their 
independence  is  still  more  strikingly  displayed  at  the  time 
of  eruption,  for  while  the  geyser  is  spouting  high  into  the 
air  these  surrounding  pools  go  on  quietly  boiling  as  before. 
It  is  now  generally  acknowledged  that  the  seat  of  eruptive 
energy  is  in  the  underground  pipe  itself,  each  geyser  having 
its  peculiarities  of  shape,  depth,  and  temperature.  But  it 
would  appear  also  that  at  least  above  this  seat  of  activity 
there  can  be  no  communication  even  between  contiguous 
vents  on  the  same  geyser  mound. 

Another  interesting  feature  of  the  locality  is  the  tend- 
ency of  each  geyser  to  build  up  a  cylinder  of  sinter  round 
its  vent.  A  few  of  these  are  quite  perfect,  but  in  most 
cases  they  are  more  or  less  broken  down,  as  if  they  had  been 
blown  out  by  occasional  explosions  of  exceptional  severity. 
Usually  there  is  only  one  cylindrical  excrescence  on  a  sinter 
mound ;  but  in  some  cases  several  may  be  seen  with  their 
bases  almost  touching  each  other.  As  the  force  of  the 
geyser  diminishes  and  its  eruptions  become  less  frequent 
the  funnel  seems  to  get  choked  up  with  sinter,  until  in  the 
end  the  hollow  cylinder  becomes  a  more  or  less  solid  pillar. 
Numerous  eminences  of  this  kind  are  to  be  seen  throughout 
the  region.  Their  surfaces  are  white  and  crumbling.  They 


232  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [X 

look,  in  fact,  so  like  pillars  of  salt  that  one  could  not  help 
thinking  of  Lot's  wife,  and  wondering  whether  such  geyser 
columns  could  ever  have  existed  on  the  plains  of  Sodom. 
In  a  rainless  climate  they  might  last  a  long  time.  But  the 
sinter  here,  as  at  Gardiner's  River,  when  no  longer  growing 
by  fresh  deposits  from  the  escaping  water,  breaks  up  into 
thin  plates.  Those  parts  of  the  basin  where  this  disin- 
tegration is  in  progress  look  as  if  they  had  been  strewn  with 
pounded  oyster-shells. 

That  the  position  of  the  vents  slowly  changes  is  indi- 
cated on  the  one  hand  by  the  way  in  which  trees  are  spread- 
ing from  the  surrounding  forest  over  the  crumbling  floor  of 
sinter,  and  on  the  other  by  the  number  of  dead  or  dying 
trunks  which  here  and  there  rise  out  of  the  sinter.  The 
volcanic  energy  is  undoubtedly  dying  out.  Yet  it  remains 
still  vigorous  enough  to  impress  the  mind  with  a  sense  of 
the  potency  of  subterranean  heat.  From  the  upper  end  of 
the  basin  the  eye  ranges  round  a  wide  area  of  bare  sinter 
plains  and  mounds,  with  dozens  of  columns  of  steam  rising 
on  all  sides ;  while  even  from  among  the  woods  beyond  an 
occasional  puff  of  white  vapour  reveals  the  presence  of 
active  vents  in  the  neighbouring  valley.  A  prodigious  mass 
of  sinter  has,  in  the  course  of  ages,  been  laid  down,  and  the 
form  of  the  ground  has  been  thereby  materially  changed. 
We  made  some  short  excursions  into  the  forest,  and  as  far 
as  we  penetrated  the  same  floor  of  sinter  was  everywhere 
traceable.  Here  and  there  a  long  extinct  geyser  mound 
was  nearly  concealed  under  a  covering  of  vegetation,  so 
that  it  resembled  a  gigantic  ant-hill;  or  a  few  steaming 
holes  about  its  sides  or  summit  would  bring  before  us  some 
of  the  latest  stages  in  geyser  history. 

One  of  the  most  singular  sights  of  this  interesting  region 
are  the  mud  volcanoes,  or  mud  geysers.  We  visited  one  of 


X]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  233 

the  best  of  them,  to  which  Jack  gave  the  name  of  "the 
Devil's  Paint-pot."  It  lies  near  the  margin  of  the  Lower 
Geyser  Basin.  We  approached  it  from  below,  surmount- 
ing by  the  way  a  series  of  sinter  mounds  dotted  with 
numerous  vents  filled  with  boiling  water.  It  may  be  de- 
scribed as  a  huge  vat  of  boiling  and  variously-coloured 
mud,  about  thirty  yards  in  diameter.  At  one  side  the 
ebullition  was  violent,  and  the  grayish-white  mud  danced  up 
into  spurts  that  were  jerked  a  foot  or  two  into  the  air.  At 
the  other  side,  however,  the  movement  was  much  less 
vigorous.  The  mud  there  rose  slowly  into  blister-like  ex- 
pansions, a  foot  or  more  in  diameter,  which  gradually 
swelled  up  till  they  burst,  and  a  little  of  the  mud  with  some 
steam  was  tossed  up,  after  which  the  bubble  sank  down 
and  disappeared.  But  nearer  the  edge  on  this  pasty  side 
of  the  caldron  the  mud  appeared  to  become  more  viscous, 
as  well  as  more  brightly-coloured  green  and  red,  so  that 
the  blisters  when  formed  remained,  and  were  even  enlarged 
by  expansion  from  within,  and  the  ejection  of  more  liquid 
mud  over  their  sides.  Each  of  these  little  cones  was  in 
fact  a  miniature  volcano  with  its  circular  crater  atop. 
Many  of  them  were  not  more  than  a  foot  high.  Had  it 
been  possible  to  transport  one  unbroken,  we  could  easily 
have  removed  it  entire  from  its  platform  of  hardened  mud, 
It  would  have  been  something  to  boast  of,  that  we  had 
brought  home  a  volcano.  But,  besides  our  invincible 
abhorrence  of  the  vandalism  that  would  in  any  way  disturb 
these  natural  productions,  in  our  light  marching  order  the 
specimen,  even  had  we  been  barbarous  enough  to  remove 
it,  would  soon  have  been  reduced  to  the  condition  to  which 
the  jolting  of  the  mules  had  brought  our  biscuits — that  of 
fine  powder.  We  remained  for  hours  watching  the  forma- 
tion of  these  little  volcanoes,  and  thinking  of  Leopold  von 


234  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

Buch  and  the  old  exploded  "  crater  of  elevation  "  theory. 
Each  of  these  cones  was  nevertheless  undoubtedly  a  true 
crater  of  elevation. 

Willingly  would  we  have  lingered  longer  in  this  weird 
district.  But  there  still  lay  a  long  journey  before  us  ere 
we  again  could  reach  the  confines  of  civilisation  ;  we  had 
therefore  to  resume  the  march.  The  Firehole  River,  which 
flows  through  the  Geyser  Basins,  and  whose  banks  are  in 
many  places  vaporous  heaps  of  sinter,  the  very  water  of  the 
river  steaming  as  it  flows  along,  is  the  infant  Madison  River, 
which  we  had  crossed  early  in  the  journey,  far  down  below 
its  lowest  canon,  on  our  way  to  Fort  Ellis.  Our  route  now 
lay  through  its  upper  canon,  a  densely-timbered  gorge  with 
picturesque  volcanic  peaks  mounting  up  here  and  there 
on  either  side  far  above  the  pines.  Below  this  defile  the 
valley  opens  out  into  a  little  basin,  filled  with  forest  to  the 
brim,  and  then,  as  usual,  contracts  again  towards  the  open- 
ing of  the  next  canon.  We  forded  the  river,  and,  mounting 
the  ridges  en  its  left  side,  looked  over  many  square  miles 
of  undulating  pine -tops, — a  vast  dark-green  sea  of  foliage 
stretching  almost  up  to  the  summits  of  the  far  mountains. 
At  last,  ascending  a  short  narrow  valley  full  of  beaver 
dams,  we  reached  a  low  flat  watershed  7063  feet  above 
the  sea,  and  stood  on  the  "great  divide"  of  the  continent. 
The  streams  by  which  we  had  hitherto  been  wandering  all 
ultimately  find  their  way  into  the  Missouri  and  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico ;  but  the  brooks  we  now  encountered  were  some 
of  the  infant  tributaries  of  the  Snake  or  Columbia  River, 
which  drains  into  the  Pacific.  Making  our  way  across  to 
Henry's  Fork,  one  of  the  feeders  of  the  Snake  River,  we 
descended  its  course  for  a  time.  It  led  us  now  through 
open  moor- like  spaces,  and  then  into  seemingly  impene- 
trable forest.  For  some  time  the  sky  towards  the  west 


x]  THE  GEYSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE.  235 

had  been  growing  more  hazy  as  we  approached,  and  we 
now  found  out  the  cause.  The  forest  was  on  fire  in 
several  places.  At  one  part  of  the  journey  we  had  just 
room  to  pass  between  the  blazing  crackling  trunks  and 
the  edge  of  the  river.  For  easier  passage  we  forded  the 
stream,  and  proceeded  down  its  left  bank,  but  found  that 
here  and  there  the  fire  had  crossed  even  to  that  side. 
Most  of  these  forest  fires  result  from  the  grossest  careless- 
ness. Jack  was  particularly  cautious  each  morning  to  see 
that  every  ember  of  our  camp  fire  was  extinguished,  and 
that  by  no  chance  could  the  dry  grass  around  be  kindled, 
for  it  might  smoulder  on  and  slowly  spread  for  days,  until 
it  eventually  set  the  nearest  timber  in  a  blaze.  We  used 
to  soak  the  ground  with  water  before  resuming  our  march. 
These  forest  fires  were  of  course  an  indication  that  human 
beings,  either  red  or  white,  had  been  on  the  ground  not 
long  before  us.  But  we  did  not  come  on  their  trail.  One 
morning,  however — it  was  the  last  day  of  this  long  march — 
we  had  been  about  a  couple  of  hours  in  the  saddle.  The 
usual  halt  had  been  made  to  tighten  the  packs,  and  we 
were  picking  our  way  across  a  dreary  plain  of  sage-brush 
on  the  edge  of  the  great  basalt  flood  of  Idaho,  when  Jack, 
whose  eyes  were  like  a  hawk's  for  quickness,  detected  a 
cloud  of  dust  far  to  the  south  on  the  horizon.  We  halted, 
and  in  a  few  minutes  Jack  informed  us  that  it  was  a  party 
of  horsemen,  and  that  they  must  be  Indians  from  their  way 
of  riding.  As  they  came  nearer  we  made  out  that  there 
were  four  mounted  Indians  with  four  led  horses.  Jack 
dismounted  and  got  his  rifle  ready.  Andy,  without  saying 
a  word,  did  the  same.  They  covered  with  their  pieces 
the  foremost  rider,  who  now  spurred  on  rapidly  in  front  oi 
the  rest,  gesticulating  to  us  with  a  rod  or  whip  he  carried 
in  his  hand.  "They  are  friendly,"  remarked  Jack,  and 


236  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [X 

down  went  the  rifles.  The  first  rider  came  up  to  us,  and 
after  a  palaver  with  Jack,  in  which  we  caught  here  and 
there  a  word  of  broken  English,  we  learnt  that  they  were 
bound  for  a  council  of  Indians  up  in  Montana. 

Four  more  picturesque  savages  could  not  have  been 
desired  to  complete  our  reminiscences  of  the  Far  West 
Every  bright  colour  was  to  be  found  somewhere  in  their 
costumes.  One  wore  a  bright  blue  coat  faced  with  scarlet; 
another  had  chosen  his  cloth  of  the  tawniest  orange.  Their 
straw  hats  were  encircled  with  a  band  of  down  and  sur- 
mounted with  feathers.  Scarlet  braid  embroidered  with 
beads  wound  in  and  out  all  over  their  dress.  Their  rifles 
(for  every  one  of  them  was  fully  armed)  were  cased  in 
richly-broidered  canvas  covers,  and  were  slung  across  the 
front  of  their  saddles,  ready  for  any  emergency.  One  of 
them,  the  son  of  a  chief,  whose  father  Jack  had  known, 
carried  a  twopenny  looking-glass  hanging  at  his  saddle- 
bow. We  were  glad  to  have  seen  the  noble  savage  in  his 
war-paint  among  his  native  wilds.  Our  satisfaction,  how- 
ever, would  have  been  less  had  we  known  then  what  we 
only  discovered  when  we  got  down  into  Utah,  that  a  neigh- 
bouring tribe  of  the  Utes  were  in  revolt,  that  they  had 
murdered  the  agent  and  his  people,  and  killed  a  United 
States  officer  and  a  number  of  his  soldiers,  who  had  been 
sent  to  suppress  the  rising,  and  that  there  were  rumours  of 
the  disaffection  spreading  into  other  tribes.  We  saluted 
our  strangers  with  the  Indian  greeting,  "  How  !"  whereupon 
they  gravely  rode  round  and  formally  shook  hands  with 
each  of  us.  Jack,  nowever,  had  no  faith  in  Indians,  and 
after  they  had  left  us,  and  were  scampering  along  the 
prairie  in  a  bee-line  due  north,  he  still  kept  his  eye  on 
them  till  they  entered  a  valley  among  the  mountains,  and 
were  lost  to  sight.  In  half  an  hour  afterwards  another 


x] 


THE  GEVSERS  OF  THE  YELLOWSTONE. 


237 


much  larger  cloud  of  dust  crossed  the  mouth  of  a  narrow 
valley  down  which  we  were  moving.  Waiting  a  little  unper- 
ceived,  to  give  the  party  time  to  widen  their  distance  from 
us,  we  were  soon  once  more  upon  the  great  basalt  plain. 

The  last  section  of  our  ride  proved  to  be  in  a  geological 
sense  one  of  the  most  interesting  parts  of  the  whole  journey. 
We  found  that  the  older  trachytic  lavas  of  the  hills  had 
been  deeply  trenched  by  lateral  valleys,  and  that  all  these 


Fig.  29. — View  on  the  Snake  River.      Basalt  Plain  with  younger 
volcanic  cones. 

valleys  had  a  floor  of  the  black  basalt  that  had  been  poured 
out  as  the  last  of  the  molten  materials  from  the  now  extinct 
volcanoes.  There  were  no  visible  cones  or  vents  from 
which  these  floods  of  basalt  could  have  proceeded.  We 
rode  for  hours  by  the  margin  of  a  vast  plain  of  basalt, 
stretching  southward  and  westward  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach.  It  seemed  as  if  the  plain  had  been  once  a  great 


238  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [x 

lake  or  sea  of  molten  rock  which  surged  along  the  base  of 
the  hills,  entering  every  valley,  and  leaving  there  a  solid 
floor  of  bare  black  stone.  We  camped  on  this  basalt  plain 
near  some  springs  of  clear  cold  water  which  rise  close  to 
its  edge.  Wandering  over  the  bare  hummocks  of  rock,  on 
many  of  which  not  a  vestige  of  vegetation  had  yet  taken 
root,  I  realised  with  vividness  the  truth  of  an  assertion 
made  first  by  Richthofen,  but  very  generally  neglected  by 
geologists,  that  our  modern  volcanoes,  such  as  Vesuvius  or 
Etna,  present  us  with  by  no  means  the  grandest  type  of 
volcanic  action,  but  rather  belong  to  a  time  of  failing 
activity.  There  have  been  periods  of  tremendous  volcanic 
energy,  when,  instead  of  escaping  from  a  local  vent,  like  a 
Vesuvian  cone,  the  lava  has  found  its  way  to  the  surface 
by  innumerable  fissures  opened  for  it  in  the  solid  crust  of 
the  globe  over  thousands  of  square  miles.  I  felt  that  the 
structure  of  this  and  the  other  volcanic  plains  of  the  Far 
West  furnish  the  true  key  to  the  history  of  the  basaltic 
plateaux  of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  which  had  been  an  enigma 
to  me  for  many  years. 

At  last  we  reached  the  railway  that  had  been  opened 
only  a  week  or  two  before.  Andy  rode  on  ahead  to  the 
terminus,  to  intimate  that  we  wished  to  be  picked  up.  In 
a  short  while  the  train  came  up,  and  as  we  sat  there  in  the 
bare,  desolate  valley,  the  engine  slowed  at  sight  of  us. 
Our  two  companions  were  now  to  turn  back  and  take  a 
shorter  route  to  Fort  Ellis,  but  would  be  at  least  ten  days 
on  the  march.  We  parted  from  them  not  without  regret. 
Rough,  but  kindly,  they  had  done  everything  to  make  the 
journey  a  memorably  pleasant  one  to  us.  We  took  our 
seats  in  the  car,  and  from  the  window,  as  we  moved  away, 
caught  the  last  glimpse  of  our  cavalcade,  Andy  in  front 
with  a  riderless  horse,  and  Jack  in  the  rear  with  another. 


xi]       LAVA-FIELDS  OF  NORTH-WESTERN  EUROPE.      239 


XL 

THE  LAVA-FIELDS  OF  NORTH-WESTERN 
EUROPE.1 

FROM  the  earliest  times  of  human  tradition  the  basin  of 
the  Mediterranean  has  been  the  region  from  which  our 
ideas  of  volcanoes  and  volcanic  action  have  been  derived. 
When  the  old  classical  mythology  passed  away  and  men 
began  to  form  a  more  intelligent  conception  of  a  nether 
region  of  fire,  it  was  from  the  burning  mountains  of  that 
basin  that  the  facts  were  derived  which  infant  philosophy 
sought  to  explain.  Pindar  sang  of  the  crimson  floods  of 
fire  that  rolled  down  from  the  summit  of  Etna  to  the  sea 
as  the  buried  Typhoeus  struggled  under  his  mountain  load. 
Strabo,  with  matter-of-fact  precision  and  praiseworthy 
accuracy,  described  the  eruptions  of  Sicily  and  the  JEolian 
Islands,  and  pointed  out  that  Vesuvius,  though  it  had 
never  been  known  as  an  active  volcano,  yet  bore  unequi- 
vocal marks  of  having  once  been  corroded  by  fires  that 
had  eventually  died  out  from  want  of  fuel.  In  later  cen- 
turies, as  the  circle  of  human  knowledge  and  experience 
widened,  it  has  still  been  by  the  Mediterranean  type  that 
the  volcanic  phenomena  of  other  countries  have  been 
judged.  When  a  geologist  thinks  or  writes  of  volcanoes 
1  Nature,  November  1880. 


240  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xi 

and  volcanic  action,  it  is  the  structure  and  products  of 
such  mountains  as  Etna  and  Vesuvius  that  are  present  to 
his  mind.  Nowhere  over  the  whole  surface  of  the  globe 
have  eruptions  been  witnessed  different  in  kind  from  those 
of  the  Mediterranean  vents,  though  varying  greatly  in 
degree.  And  hence  even  among  those  who  have  specially 
devoted  themselves  to  the  study  of  volcanoes  there  has 
been  a  tacit  assumption  that  from  the  earliest  times  and  in 
all  countries  of  the  world  where  volcanic  outbreaks  have 
occurred,  it  has  been  from  local  vents  like  those  of  Etna, 
the  ^Eolian  Islands,  the  Phlegraean  Fields,  or  the  Greek 
Archipelago. 

If  one  were  to  assert  that  this  assumption  is  probably 
erroneous,  that  the  type  of  volcanic  "  cones  and  craters  " 
has  not  been  in  every  geological  age  and  all  over  the  earth's 
surface  the  prevalent  one ;  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  the 
less  portentous,  though  possibly  always  the  more  frequent 
type  of  volcanic  action,  and  belongs  perhaps  to  a  feebler 
or  waning  degree  of  volcanic  excitement — these  statements 
would  be  received  by  most  European  geologists  with  in- 
credulity, if  not  with  some  more  pronounced  form  of  dis- 
sent. Yet  I  am  convinced  that  they  are  well  founded,  and 
that  a  striking  illustration  of  their  truth  is  supplied  by  the 
greatest  of  all  the  episodes  in  the  volcanic  history  of 
Europe,  that  of  the  basalt-plateaux  of  the  north-west. 

It  is  now  some  twelve  years  since  Richthofen  pointed 
out  that  on  the  Pacific  slope  of  North  America  there  is 
evidence  of  the  emission  of  vast  floods  of  lava  without  the 
formation  of  cones  and  craters.  Geologists  interested  in 
these  matters  may  remember  with  what  destructive  energy 
Scrope  reviewed  that  writer's  Natural  System  of  Volcanic 
Rocks  ;  how  he  likened  it  to  the  old  crude  notions  that 
had  been  in  vogue  in  his  own  younger  days,  and  which  a 


xi]      LAVA-FIELDS  OF  NORTH-WESTERN  EUROPE.      241 

study  of  the  classical  district  of  Auvergne  had  done  so 
much  to  dispel ;  how  he  ridiculed  what  he  regarded  as 
"fanciful  ideas"  and  "untenable  distinctions,"  which  it 
was  "  a  miserable  thing "  to  find  still  taught  in  mining 
schools  abroad.  My  own  reverence  for  the  teaching  of  so 
eminent  a  master  and  so  warm-hearted  a  friend  led  me  to 
acquiesce  without  question  in  the  dictum  of  the  author 
of  Considerations  on  Volcanoes.  Having  rambled  over 
Auvergne  with  his  admirable  sections  and  descriptions  in 
my  hand,  I  knew  his  contention  as  to  the  removal  of  cones 
and  craters  by  denudation  and  the  survival  of  more  or  less 
fragmentary  plateaux  once  connected  with  true  cones  to 
be  undoubtedly  correct  with  respect  at  least  to  that  region. 
Nevertheless  there  were  features  of  former  volcanic  action 
on  which  the  phenomena  of  modern  volcanoes  seemed 
to  me  to  throw  very  little  light.  In  particular,  the  vast 
number  of  fissures  which  in  Britain  had  been  filled  with 
basalt  and  now  formed  the  well-known  and  abundant 
"  dykes,"  appeared  hardly  to  connect  themselves  with  any 
known  phase  of  volcanism.  The  area  over  which  these 
dykes  can  be  traced  is  probably  not  less  than  100,000 
square  miles,  for  they  occur  from  Yorkshire  to  Orkney,  and 
from  Donegal  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tay.  As  they  pierce 
formations  of  every  age,  including  the  Chalk,  as  they 
traverse  even  the  largest  faults  and  cross  from  one  group 
of  rocks  into  another  without  interruption  or  deflection,  as 
they  become  more  numerous  towards  the  great  basaltic 
plateaux  of  Antrim  and  the  Inner  Hebrides,  and  as  they 
penetrate  the  older  portions  of  these  plateaux,  I  inferred 
that  the  dykes  probably  belonged  to  the  great  volcanic 
period  which  witnessed  the  outburst  of  these  western 
basalts.  Further  research  has  fully  confirmed  this  in- 
ference. There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  outpouring  of 

R 


242  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xi 

these  great  floods  of  lava  of  which  the  hills  of  Antrim, 
Mull,  Morven,  Skye,  Faroe,  and  part  of  Iceland  are  merely 
surviving  fragments  and  the  extravasation  of  these  thousands 
of  dykes  are  connected  manifestations  of  volcanic  energy 
during  the  Tertiary  period. 

But  this  association  of  thin  nearly  level  sheets  of 
basalt  piled  over  each  other  to  a  depth  of  sometimes  3000 
feet,  with  lava-filled  fissures  sometimes  200  miles  distant 
from  them,  presented  difficulties  which  in  the  light  of 
modern  volcanic  action  remained  insoluble.  The  wonder- 
fully persistent  course  and  horizontality  of  the  basalts  with 
the  absence  or  paucity  of  interstratified  tuffs,  and  the 
want  of  any  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  thickening  and 
uprise  of  the  basalts  towards  what  might  be  supposed  to 
be  the  vents  of  eruption,  were  problems  which  again  and 
again  I  attempted  vainly  to  solve.  Nor  so  long  as  the  in- 
cubus of  "  cones  and  craters  "  lies  upon  one's  mind  does 
the  question  admit  of  an  answer.  A  recent  journey  in 
Western  America  has  at  last  lifted  the  mist  from  my 
geological  vision.  Having  travelled  for  many  leagues 
over  some  of  the  lava-fields  of  the  Pacific  slope,  I  have 
been  enabled  to  realise  the  conditions  of  volcanism  de- 
scribed by  Richthofen,  and,  without  acquiescing  in  all  his 
theoretical  conclusions,  to  judge  of  the  reality  of  the  dis- 
tinction which  he  rightly  drew  between  "  massive  eruptions  " 
and  ordinary  volcanoes  with  cones  and  craters.  Never 
shall  I  forget  an  afternoon  in  the  autumn  of  last  year  upon 
the  great  Snake  River  lava  desert  of  Idaho.  It  was  the 
last  day  of  a  journey  of  several  hundred  miles  through  the 
volcanic  region  of  the  Yellowstone  and  Madison.  We  had 
been  riding  for  two  days  over  fields  of  basalt,  level  as  lake- 
bottoms  among  the  valleys,  and  on  the  morning  of  the 
last  day,  after  an  interview  with  an  armed  party  of  Indians 


xi]      LAVA-FIELDS  OF  NORTH-WESTERN  EUROPE.      243 

(it  was  only  a  few  days  before  the  disastrous  expedition  of 
Major  Thornburgh,  and,  unknown  to  us,  the  surrounding 
tribes  were  already  in  a  ferment),  we  emerged  from  the 
mountains  upon  the  great  sea  of  black  lava  which  seems 
to  stretch  inimitably  westwards.  With  minds  keenly  ex- 
cited by  the  incidents  of  the  journey,  we  rode  for  hours 
by  the  side  of  that  apparently  boundless  plain.  Here  and 
there  a  trachytic  spur  projected  from  the  hills,  succeeded 
now  and  then  by  a  valley  up  which  the  black  flood  of  lava 
would  stretch  away  into  the  high  grounds.  It  was  as  if 
the  great  plain  had  been  filled  with  molten  rock  which  had 
kept  its  level  and  wound  in  and  out  along  the  bays  and 
promontories  of  the  mountain- slopes  as  a  sheet  of  water 
would  have  done.  Copious  springs  and  streams  which 
issue  from  the  mountains  are  soon  lost  under  the  arid 
basalt.  The  Snake  River  itself,  however,  has  cut  out  a 
deep  gorge  through  the  basalt  down  into  the  trachytic  lavas 
underneath,  but  winds  through  the  desert  without  watering  it. 
The  precipitous  walls  of  the  canon  show  that  the  plain  is 
covered  by  a  succession  of  parallel  sheets  of  basalt  to  a 
depth  of  several  hundred  feet.  Here  and  there,  I  was 
told,  streams  that  have  crossed  from  the  hills  and  flowed 
underneath  the  lava  desert  issue  at  the  base  of  the  canon 
walls,  and  swell  the  Snake  River  on  its  way  to  the  Pacific. 
The  resemblance  of  the  horizontal  basalt  sheets  of  this 
region  to  those  with  which  I  was  familiar  at  home  brought 
again  vividly  before  my  mind  the  old  problem  of  our 
Miocene  dykes  and  Richthofen's  rejected  type  of  "massive" 
or  fissure  eruptions.  I  looked  round  in  vain  for  any  central 
cone  from  which  this  great  sea  of  basalt  could  have  flowed. 
It  assuredly  had  not  come  from  the  adjacent  mountains, 
which  consisted  of  older  and  very  different  lavas,  round  the 
worn  flanks  of  which  the  basalt  had  eddied.  A  few  soli- 


244  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xi 

tary  cinder  cones  rose  at  wide  intervals  fro;n  the  basalt 
plain,  as  piles  of  scoriae  sometimes  do  from  the  vapour 
vents  on  the  surface  of  a  Vesuvian  lava-stream,  and  were 
as  unequivocally  of  secondary  origin  (Fig.  29).  Riding 
hour  after  hour  among  these  arid  wastes,  I  became  con- 
vinced that  all  volcanic  phenomena  are  not  to  be  explained 
by  the  ordinary  conception  of  volcanoes,  but  that  there  is 
another  and  grander  type  of  volcanic  action,  where,  instead 
of  issuing  from  a  local  vent,  whether  or  not  along  a  line  of 
fissure,  and  piling  up  a  cone  of  lava  and  ashes  around  it, 
the  molten  rock  has  risen  in  many  fissures,  accompanied 
by  the  discharge  of  little  or  no  fragmentary  material,  and 
has  welled  forth  so  as  to  flood  the  lower  ground  with  suc- 
cessive horizontal  sheets  of  basalt.  Recent  renewed  ex- 
amination of  the  basalt  plateaux  and  associated  dykes  in 
the  west  of  Scotland  has  assured  me  that  this  view  of  their 
origin  and  connection,  which  first  suggested  itself  to  my 
mind  on  the  lava-plains  of  Idaho,  furnishes  the  true  key  to 
their  history. 

The  date  of  these  lava -floods  of  the  Snake  River  is  in 
a  geological  sense  quite  recent.  They  have  been  poured 
over  the  bottoms  of  the  present  valleys,  sealing  up  beneath 
sheets  of  solid  stone,  river-beds  and  lake -floors  with  their 
layers  of  gravel  and  silt.  The  surface  of  the  lava  is  in 
many  places  black  and  bare,  as  if  it  had  cooled  only  a 
short  time  ago.  Yet  there  has  been  time  for  the  excava- 
tion of  the  Snake  River  canon  to  a  depth  of  700  feet 
through  the  basalt  floor  of  the  plain.  In  so  arid  a  climate, 
however,  the  denudation  of  this  floor  must  be  extremely 
slow.  Much  of  the  plain  is  a  verdureless  waste  of  loose 
sand  and  dust  which  has  gathered  into  shifting  dunes. 
Save  in  the  gorges  laid  open  by  the  main  river  and  some 
of  its  tributaries,  hardly  any  sections  have  yet  been  cut  into 


xi]      LAVA-FIELDS  OF  NORTH-WESTERN  EUROPE.      245 

the  volcanic  floor.  Dykes  and  other  protrusions  of  basalt 
occur  on  the  surrounding  hills,  but  the  chief  fissures  or 
vents  of  emission  are  still  no  doubt  buried  beneath  the  lava 
that  escaped  from  them. 

In  North -Western  Europe,  however,  the  basalt  sheets 
were  erupted  as  far  back  as  Miocene  or  Oligocene  times. 
Since  then,  exposed  to  many  vicissitudes  of  geological 
history — subterranean  movement  and  changes  of  climate, 
with  the  whole  epigene  army  of  destructive  agencies,  air, 
rain,  frost,  streams,  glaciers,  and  ice -sheets — the  volcanic 
plateaux,  trenched  by  valleys  two  or  three  thousand  feet 
deep  and  a  mile  or  more  in  breadth,  and  stripped  bodily 
off  many  a  square  mile  of  ground  over  which  they  once 
spread,  have  been  so  scarped  and  cleft  that  their  very 
roots  have  been  laid  bare.  Viewed  in  the  light  of  the 
much  younger  basalts  of  the  Western  Territories  of  North 
America,  their  history  becomes  at  last  intelligible  and  more 
than  ever  interesting.  We  are  no  longer  under  the  sup- 
posed necessity  of  finding  volcanic  cones  vast  enough  to 
have  poured  forth  such  widespread  floods  of  basalt.  The 
sources  of  the  molten  rock  are  to  be  sought  in  those 
innumerable  dykes  which  run  across  Britain  from  sea  to 
sea,  and  which  in  this  view  of  their  relations  at  once  fall 
into  their  place  in  the  volcanic  history  of  the  time. 

No  more  stupendous  series  of  volcanic  phenomena  has 
yet  been  discovered  in  any  part  of  the  globe.  We  are  first 
presented  with  the  fact  that  the  crust  of  the  earth  over  an 
area  which  in  the  British  Islands  alone  amounted  to  prob- 
ably not  less  than  100,000  square  miles,  but  which  was 
only  part  of  the  far  more  extensive  region  that  included 
the  Faroe  Islands  and  Iceland,  was  rent  by  innumerable 
fissures  in  a  prevalent  east  and  west  or  south-east  and 
north-west  direction.  These  fissures,  whether  due  to 


246  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xi 

sudden  shocks  or  slow  disruption,  were  produced  with 
such  irresistible  force  as  to  preserve  their  linear  character 
and  parallelism  through  rocks  of  the  most  diverse  nature, 
and  even  across  old  dislocations  having  a  throw  of  many 
thousand  feet.  Yet  so  steadily  and  equably  did  the  fissur- 
ing  proceed  over  this  enormous  area,  that  comparatively 
seldom  was  there  any  vertical  displacement  of  the  sides. 
We  rarely  meet  with  a  fissure  which  has  been  made  a  true 
fault  with  an  upthrow  and  downthrow  side. 

The  next  feature  is  the  rise  of  molten  basalt  up  these 
thousand  of  fissures.  The  most  voluminous  streams  of 
lava  that  have  issued  from  any  modern  volcanic  cone 
appear  but  as  a  minor  manifestation  of  volcanic  activity 
when  compared  with  the  filling  of  those  countless  rents 
over  so  wide  a  region.  Mining  operations  in  the  Scottish 
coal-fields  have  shown  that  dykes  do  not  always  reach  the 
surface.  In  all  parts  of  the  country,  too,  examples  may  be 
observed  of  breaks  in  the  continuity  of  dykes.  The  same 
dyke  vanishes  for  an  interval  and  reappears  on  the  same 
line,  but  is  doubtless  continuous  underneath.  What  pro- 
portion of  the  dykes  ever  communicated  with  the  surface 
at  the  time  of  their  extravasation  is  a  question  that  may 
perhaps  never  be  answered.  It  is  difficult  to  believe  that 
a  considerable  number  of  them  did  not  overflow  above 
ground  even  far  to  the  east  of  the  main  and  existing  out- 
flows. But  so  extensive  has  been  the  subsequent  denuda- 
tion that  all  trace  of  such  superficial  emission  has  been 
removed.  The  general  surface  of  the  country  has  been 
lowered  by  subaerial  waste  several  hundred  feet  at  least, 
and  the  dykes  now  protrude  as  hard  ribs  of  rock  across 
the  hills. 

Traced  westwards  the  dykes  increase  in  abundance,  til] 
at  last  they  reach  the  great  basaltic  plateaux.  MacCulloch 


xij      LAVA-FIELDS  OF  NORTH-WESTERN  EUROPE.      247 

long  ago  sketched  them  in  Skye,  rising  through  the  Jurassic 
rocks  and  merging  into  the  overlying  sheets  of  basalt. 
Similar  sections  occur  in  the  other  islands  and  in  the  north 
of  Ireland.  The  lofty  mural  escarpments  presented  by  the 
basalt  plateaux  once  extended  far  beyond  the  limits  to 
which  they  have  now  been  reduced.  The  platform  from 
which  they  have  been  removed  shows  in  its  abundant  dykes 
the  fissures  up  which  the  successive  discharges  of  lava  rose 
to  the  surface,  where  they  overflowed  in  wide  level  sheets 
like  those  still  so  fresh  and  little  eroded  in  Western  North 
America. 

That  there  were  intervals  between  successive  outpour- 
ings of  basalt  is  indicated  by  the  occasional  interstratifica- 
tion  of  seams  of  coal  and  shale  between  the  different  flows. 
These  partings  contain  a  fragmentary  record  of  the  vegeta- 
tion which  grew  on  the  neighbouring  hills,  and  which  may 
even  have  sometimes  found  a  foothold  on  the  crumbling 
surface  of  the  basalt  floor  until  overwhelmed  by  fresh  floods 
of  lava.  Not  a  trace  of  marine  organisms  has  anywhere 
been  found  among  these  interstratifications.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  volcanic  eruptions  were  all  sub- 
aerial.  Sheet  after  sheet  was  poured  forth  over  the  wide 
valley  between  the  mountains  of  Donegal  and  the  Outer 
Hebrides  on  the  one  side,  and  those  of  the  north-east  of 
Ireland  and  the  west  of  Scotland  on  the  other,  until  the 
original  surface  had  been  buried  in  some  places  3000  feet 
beneath  volcanic  ejections. 

I  believe  that  the  most  stupendous  outpourings  of  lava 
in  geological  history  have  been  effected  not  by  the  familiar 
type  of  conical  volcano,  but  by  these  less  known  fissure- 
eruptions.  Both  types  are  of  course  only  manifestations 
in  different  degrees  of  the  same  volcanic  energy.  It  may 
be  said,  indeed,  that  both  are  fissure-eruptions,  for  the  more 


248  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES  [xi 

important  examples  of  cones  and  craters  are  no  doubt 
placed  linearly  on  lines  of  fissure.  It  is  by  no  means 
certain  that  the  "  massive  "  or  fissure  type  belongs  wholly 
to  former  geological  periods.  In  particular,  one  is  disposed 
to  inquire  whether  the  great  Icelandic  lava-floods  of  1783 
— the  most  voluminous  on  record — as  well  as  some  of  the 
recent  eruptions  in  that  island,  may  not  have  been  con- 
nected rather  with  the  opening  of  wide-reaching  fissures 
than  with  the  emissions  of  a  single  volcanic  cone.  The 
reality  and  importance  of  the  grander  phase  of  volcanism 
marked  by  fissure  eruptions  have  been  recognised  by  some 
of  the  able  geologists  who  in  recent  years  have  explored 
the  Western  States  and  Territories  of  the  American  Union. 
But  they  have  not  yet  received  due  acknowledgment  on 
this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  where  the  lesser  type  of  cones  and 
craters  has  been  regarded  as  that  by  which  all  volcanic 
manifestations  must  be  judged.  We  are  fortunate  in  pos- 
sessing in  the  north-west  of  Europe  so  magnificent  an 
example  of  fissure-eruptions,  and  one  which  has  been  so 
dissected  by  denudation  that  its  whole  structure  can  be 
interpreted.  The  grand  examples  on  the  Pacific  slope  of 
America  have  yet  to  be  worked  out  in  detail,  and  will  no 
doubt  cast  much  fresh  light  on  the  subject,  more  especially 
upon  those  phenomena  of  which  in  Europe  the  traces  have 
been  removed  by  denudation.  But  the  other  continents 
also  are  not  without  their  illustrations.  The  basaltic 
plateaux  of  Abyssinia  and  the  "  Deccan  traps "  of  India 
probably  mark  the  sites  of  some  of  the  great  fissure-erup- 
tions which  have  produced  the  lava-fields  of  the  Old  World. 
In  their  recent  admirable  r'esiim'e  of  the  Geology  of  India, 
Messrs.  Medlicott  and  Blandford  describe  the  persistent 
horizontally  of  the  vast  basalt  sheets  of  the  Deccan,  the 
absence  of  any  associated  volcanic  cones  or  the  least  trace 


xi]      LAVA-FIELDS  OF  NORTH-WESTERN  EUROPE.       249 

of  them  in  that  region,  and  the  abundance  of  dykes  in  the 
underlying  platform  of  older  rocks,  where  it  emerges  from 
beneath  the  volcanic  plateaux.  They  confess  the  difficulty 
of  explaining  the  origin  of  such  enormous  outpourings  of 
basalt  by  reference  to  any  modern  volcanic  phenomena. 
Their  descriptions  of  these  Indian  Cretaceous  lava-floods 
might,  however,  be  almost  literally  applied  to  the  Miocene 
plateaux  of  North-Western  Europe  and  to  the  Pliocene  or 
recent  examples  of  Western  North  America. 


250  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  jxn 


XII. 
THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.1 

FOR  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  University  Education  in 
Scotland,  we  are  to-day  met  to  begin  the  duties  of  a  Chair 
specially  devoted  to  the  cultivation  of  Geology  and  Miner- 
alogy. Though  Science  is  of  no  country  nor  kin,  it  yet 
bears  some  branches  which  take  their  hue  largely  from  the 
region  whence  they  sprang,  or  where  they  have  been  most 
sedulously  nurtured.  Such  local  colourings  need  not  be 
deprecated,  since  they  are  both  inevitable  and  useful. 
They  serve  to  bring  out  the  peculiarities  of  each  climate, 
or  land,  or  people,  and  it  is  the  blending  of  all  these  colour- 
ings which  finally  gives  the  common  neutral  tint  of  science. 
This  is  in  a  marked  degree  true  of  Geology.  Each  country, 
where  any  part  of  the  science  has  been  more  particularly 
studied,  has  furnished  its  local  names  to  the  general  nomen- 
clature, and  its  rocks  have  sometimes  served  as  types  from 
which  the  rocks  of  other  regions  have  been  classified  and 
described.  The  very  scenery  of  the  country,  reacting  on 
the  minds  of  the  early  observers,  has  sometimes  influenced 
their  observations,  and  has  thus  left  an  impress  on  the 
general  progress  of  the  science.  As  we  enter  to-day  upon 

1  The  Inaugural  Lecture  at  the  opening  of  the  Class  of  Geology 
and  Mineralogy  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  6th  November  1871. 


xn]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  251 

a  new  phase  in  the  cultivation  of  Geology  here,  it  seems 
most  fitting  that  we  should  look  back  for  a  little  at  the  past 
development  of  the  science  in  this  part  of  the  British 
Islands. 

There  was  a  time,  still  within  the  memory  of  living 
men,  when  a  handful  of  ardent  original  observers  here  in 
Edinburgh  carried  geological  speculation  and  research  to 
such  a  height  as  to  found  a  new,  and,  in  the  end,  a  domi- 
nant school  of  Geology.  The  history  of  the  Natural 
Sciences,  like  that  of  Philosophy,  has  been  marked  by 
epochs  of  activity  and  intervals  of  quiescence.  One  genius, 
perhaps,  has  arisen  and  kindled  in  other  minds  the  flame 
that  burned  so  brightly  in  his  own.  A  time  of  vigorous 
research  has  ensued,  but  as  the  personal  influence  that 
evoked  it  has  waned,  a  period  of  feebleness  or  torpor  has 
been  apt  to  ensue,  and  to  last  until  the  advent  of  some  new 
awakening.  Such  oscillations  of  mental  energy  have  an 
importance  and  a  significance  far  beyond  the  narrow  limits 
of  the  country  or  city  in  which  they  may  have  been  mani- 
fested. They  form  part  of  that  long  and  noble  record  of 
the  struggle  of  man  with  the  forces  of  nature,  and  deserve 
the  thoughtful  consideration  of  all  who  have  joined  or  who 
contemplate  joining  in  that  struggle.  I  propose  on  the 
present  occasion  to  sketch  the  story  of  one  of  these  periods 
of  vigorous  originality,  which  had  its  rising  and  its  setting 
in  this  city — the  story  of  what  may  be  called  the  Scottish 
School  of  Geology.  I  wish  to  place  before  you,  in  as  clear 
a  light  as  I  can,  the  work  which  was  accomplished  by  the 
founders  of  that  school,  that  you  may  see  how  greatly  it 
has  influenced,  and  is  even  now  influencing,  the  onward 
march  of  the  science.  I  do  this  in  no  vainglorious  spirit, 
nor  with  any  wish  to  exalt  into  prominence  a  mere  question 
of  nationality.  Science  knows  no  geographical  or  political 


252  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn 

limits.  Nor,  though  we  may  be  proud  of  what  has  been 
achieved  for  Geology  in  this  little  kingdom,  can  we  for  a 
moment  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  these  achievements 
are  of  the  past,  that  the  measure  of  the  early  promise  at  the 
beginning  of  this  century  has  been  but  scantily  fulfilled  in 
Scotland,  and  that  the  state  of  the  science  among  us  here, 
instead  of  being  in  advance,  is  rather  behind  the  time. 
And  thus  I  dwell  now  on  the  example  of  our  predecessors 
solely  in  the  hope  that,  realising  to  ourselves  what  that 
example  really  was,  we  may  be  stimulated  to  follow  it. 
The  same  hills  and  valleys,  crags  and  ravines,  remain 
around  us  which  gave  these  great  men  their  inspiration, 
and  still  preach  to  us  the  lessons  which  they  were  the  first 
to  understand. 

The  period  during  which  the  distinctively  Scottish 
School  of  Geology  rose  and  flourished  may  be  taken  as 
included  between  the  years  1780  and  1825 — a  brief  half- 
century.  Previous  to  that  time  Geology,  in  the  true  sense 
of  the  word,  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  existed.  Steno, 
indeed,  more  than  a  hundred  years  before,  had  clearly 
shown,  from  the  occurrence  of  the  remains  of  plants  and 
animals  embedded  in  the  solid  rocks,  that  the  present  was 
not  the  original  order  of  things,  that  there  had  been  up- 
heavals of  the  sea  into  dry  land  and  depressions  of  the  land 
beneath  the  sea,  by  the  working  of  forces  lodged  within  the 
earth,  and  that  the  memorials  of  these  changes  were  pre- 
served for  us  in  the  rocks.  Seventy  years  later  another 
writer  of  the  Italian  school,  Lazzaro  Moro,  adopting  and  ex- 
tending the  conclusions  of  Steno,  pointed  to  the  evidence 
that  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  everywhere  worn  away,  and 
is  repaired  by  the  upheaving  power  of  earthquakes,  but  for 
which  the  mountains  and  all  the  dry  land  would  at  last  be 
brought  beneath  the  level  of  the  waves. 


X7I]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  253 

But  none  of  these  desultory  researches,  interesting  and 
important  though  they  were  as  landmarks  in  the  progress 
of  science,  bore  immediate  fruit  in  any  broad  and  philo- 
sophic outline  of  the  natural  history  of  the  globe.  Men 
were  still  trammelled  by  the  belief  that  the  date  of  the 
creation  of  the  world  and  its  inhabitants  could  not  be 
placed  farther  back  than  some  five  or  six  thousand  years, 
that  this  limit  was  fixed  for  us  in  Holy  Writ,  and  that  every 
new  fact  must  receive  an  interpretation  in  accordance  with 
such  limitation.  They  were  thus  often  driven  to  distort 
the  facts  or  to  explain  them  away.  If  they  ventured  to 
pronounce  for  a  natural  and  obvious  interpretation,  they 
laid  themselves  open  to  the  charge  of  impiety  and  atheism, 
and  might  bring  down  the  unrelenting  vengeance  of  the 
Church. 

Such  was  the  state  of  inquiry  when  the  Scottish 
Geological  School  came  into  being.  The  founder  of  that 
school  was  James  Hutton,  a  man  of  a  singularly  original 
and  active  mind,  who  was  born  at  Edinburgh  in  1726,  and 
died  there  in  1797.  Educated  for  the  medical  profession, 
but  possessed  of  a  small  fortune,  which  gave  him  leisure  to 
follow  his  favourite  pursuits,  he  eventually  devoted  himself 
to  the  study  of  Mineralogy.  But  it  was  not  merely  as  rare 
or  interesting  objects,  nor  even  as  parts  of  a  mineralogical 
system,  that  he  dealt  with  minerals.  They  seemed  to 
suggest  to  him  constant  questions  as  to  the  earlier  condi- 
tions of  our  planet,  and  he  thus  was  gradually  led  into  the 
wider  fields  of  Geology  and  Physical  Geography.  Quietly 
working  in  his  study  here,  a  favourite  member  of  a  brilliant 
circle  of  society,  which  included  such  men  as  Black,  Cullen, 
Adam  Smith,  and  Clerk  of  Eldin,  and  making  frequent 
excursions  to  gather  fresh  data  and  test  the  truth  of  his 
deductions,  he  at  length  matured  his  immortal  Theory  of 


254  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn 

the  Earth,  and  published  it  in  1785.  Associated  with 
Hutton,  rather  as  a  friend  and  enthusiastic  admirer  than  as 
an  independent  observer,  was  John  Playfair,  Professor  of 
Natural  Philosophy  in  this  University,  by  whose  graceful 
exposition  the  doctrines  of  Hutton  were  most  widely  made 
known  to  the  world.  His  classic  Illustrations  of  the  Hitt- 
tonian  Theory  is  one  of  the  most  delightful  books  of  science 
in  our  language — clear,  elegant,  and  vivacious — a  model  of 
scientific  description  and  argument,  which  I  would  earnestly 
recommend  to  your  notice.  Sir  James  Hall,  another  of 
this  little  illustrious  band,  had  one  of  the  most  inventive 
minds  which  have  ever  taken  up  the  pursuit  of  science  in 
this  country.  His  merits  have  never  yet  been  adequately 
realised  by  his  countrymen,  though  they  are  better  appre- 
ciated in  Germany  and  in  France.  He  was  in  fact  the 
founder  of  Experimental  Geology,  since  it  was  he  who  first 
brought  geological  speculation  to  the  test  of  actual  physical 
experiment.  This  he  accomplished  in  a  series  of  ingenious 
researches,  whereby  he  corroborated  some  of  the  disputed 
parts  of  the  doctrines  of  his  master,  Hutton.  These  were 
the  three  chief  leaders  of  the  Scottish  School ;  but  to  their 
number,  as  worthy  but  less  celebrated  associates,  we  must 
not  omit  to  add  the  names  of  Mackenzie,  Webb  Seymour, 
and  Allan. 

It  would  lead  me  far  beyond  the  allotted  hour  of  lecture 
to  attempt  any  adequate  summary  of  the  work  achieved  by 
each  of  these  early  pioneers  of  the  science.  It  will  be 
enough  for  my  present  purpose  to  sketch  what  were  the 
leading  characteristics  of  this  Scottish  School,  and  what 
claim  it  has  to  be  remembered,  not  by  us  only,  but  by  all 
to  whom  Geology  is  the  subject  either  of  serious  study  or 
of  pleasant  recreation. 

Born  in  a  "  land  of  mountain  and  flood,"  the  geology 


xn]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  255 

of  the  Scottish  School  naturally  dealt  in  the  main  with  the 
inorganic  part  of  the  science,  with  the  elemental  forces 
which  have  burst  through  and  cracked  and  worn  down  the 
crust  of  the  earth.  It  asked  the  mountains  of  its  birthplace 
by  what  chain  of  events  they  had  been  upheaved,  how  their 
rocks,  so  gnarled  and  broken,  had  come  into  being,  how 
valleys  and  glens  had  been  impressed  upon  the  surface  of  the 
land,  and  how  the  various  strata  through  which  these  wind 
had  been  step  by  step  built  up.  It  encountered  no  rocks 
like  those  which  had  arrested  the  notice  of  the  early  Italian 
geologists,  charged  with  fossil  shells,  corals,  and  bones  of 
fish,  such  as  still  lived  in  the  adjoining  seas,  and  which  at 
once  suggested  the  former  presence  of  the  sea  over  the 
land.  Neither  did  it  meet  with  deposits  showing  abundant 
traces  of  ancient  lakes,  rivers,  and  land  -  surfaces,  each 
marked  by  the  presence  of  animal  and  plant  remains,  like 
those  which  set  Steno  and  Moro  thinking.  The  rocks  of 
Scotland  are,  as  a  whole,  unfossiliferous.  It  was  therefore 
rather  with  the  records  of  physical  events,  unaided  by  the 
testimony  of  organic  remains,  that  the  Scottish  geologists 
had  to  deal.  Their  task  was  to  unravel  the  complicated 
processes  by  which  the  rocky  crust  of  the  earth  has  been 
built  up,  and  by  which  the  present  varied  contour  of  the 
earth's  surface  has  been  produced — to  ascertain,  in  short, 
from  a  study  of  the  existing  economy  of  the  world,  what 
has  been  the  physical  history  of  our  planet  in  earlier  ages. 
The  marvellous  story  told  by  the  organic  remains  in  the 
earth's  crust  had  not  yet  been  in  any  way  conjectured. 

Hitherto,  while  men  had  been  accustomed  to  believe 
that  the  earth  was  but  some  6000  years  old,  they  sought 
in  the  rocks  beneath  and  around  them  evidence  only  of 
the  six  days'  creation  or  of  the  flood  of  Noah.  Each  new 
cosmological  system  was  based  upon  that  belief,  and  tried 


256  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn 

in  various  ways  to  reconcile  the  Biblical  narrative  with 
fanciful  interpretations  of  the  facts  of  Nature.  It  wa? 
reserved  for  Hutton  to  declare,  for  the  first  time,  that  the 
rocks  around  us  reveal  no  trace  of  the  beginning  of  things. 
He,  too,  first  clearly  and  persistently  proclaimed  the  great 
fundamental  truth  of  Geology,  that  in  seeking  to  interpret 
the  past  history  of  the  earth  as  chronicled  in  the  rocks,  we 
must  use  the  present  economy  of  nature  as  our  guide.  In 
our  investigations,  "  no  powers,"  he  says,  "  are  to  be 
employed  that  are  not  natural  to  the  globe,  no  action  to 
be  admitted  of  except  those  of  which  we  know  the  prin- 
ciple." "  Nor  are  we  to  proceed  in  feigning  causes  when 
those  appear  insufficient  which  occur  in  our  experience."1 
The  changes  of  the  past  must  be  investigated  in  the  light 
of  similar  changes  now  in  operation.  This  was  a  guiding 
principle  of  the  Scottish  School,  and  through  their  influence 
it  has  become  a  guiding  principle  of  modern  Geology  ; 
though,  under  the  name  of  "  Uniformitarianism,"  it  has 
unquestionably  been  pushed  to  an  unwarrantable  length 
by  some  of  the  later  followers  of  Hutton.  The  appeal  to 
Nature  in  her  present  condition  for  light  in  geological 
inquiry  was  a  watchword  of  the  Huttonians,  and  in  the 
hands  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  their  number,  Sir 
Charles  Lyell,  has  been  largely  influential  in  the  establish- 
ment of  Geology  as  a  truly  observational  science. 

There  were  two  directions  in  which  Hutton  laboured, 
and  in  each  of  which  he  and  his  followers  constantly  tra- 
velled by  the  light  of  the  present  order  of  nature — viz.  the 
investigation  of  ( i )  changes  which  have  transpired  beneath 
the  surface  and  within  the  crust  of  the  earth,  and  (2) 
changes  which  have  been  effected  on  the  surface  itself. 

i.  That  the  interior  of  the  earth  was  hot,  and  that  it 
1  Hutton's  Theory  of  the  Earth,  i.  p.  160;  ii.  p.  549. 


xii]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  257 

was  the  seat  of  powerful  forces,  by  which  solid  rocks  had 
been  rent  open  and  wide  regions  of  land  convulsed,  were 
familiar  facts,  attested  by  every  volcano  and  earthquake. 
These  phenomena  had  been  for  the  most  part  regarded  as 
abnormal  parts  of  the  system  of  nature ;  by  many  writers, 
indeed,  as  well  as  by  the  general  mass  of  mankind,  they 
were  looked  upon  as  Divine  judgments,  specially  sent  for 
the  punishment  and  reformation  of  the  human  species.  To 
Hutton,  pondering  over  the  great  organic  system  of  the 
world,  a  deeper  meaning  was  necessary.  He  felt,  as  Steno 
and  Moro  had  done,  that  the  earthquake  and  volcano  were  but 
parts  of  the  general  mechanism  of  our  planet.  But  he  saw, 
also,  that  they  were  not  the  only  exhibitions  of  the  potency 
of  subterranean  agencies,  that  in  fact  they  were  only  partial 
and  perhaps  even  secondary  manifestations  of  the  influence 
of  the  great  internal  heat  of  the  globe,  and  that  the  full 
import  of  that  influence  could  not  be  understood  unless 
careful  study  were  given  also  to  the  structure  of  the  rocky 
crust  of  the  earth.  Accordingly  he  set  himself  for  years 
patiently  to  gather  and  meditate  over  data  which  would  throw 
light  upon  that  structure  and  its  history.  The  mountains 
and  glens,  river-valleys  and  sea-coasts  of  his  native  country 
ivere  diligently  traversed  by  him,  every  journey  adding  some- 
thing to  his  store  of  materials,  and  enabling  him  to  arrive 
continually  at  wider  views  of  the  general  economy  of  nature. 
At  one  time  we  find  him  in  a  Highland  glen  searching  for 
proofs  of  a  hypothesis  which  he  was  convinced  must  be  true, 
and,  at  their  eventual  discovery,  breaking  forth  into  such 
gleeful  excitement  that  his  attendant  gillies  concluded  he 
must  certainly  have  hit  upon  a  mine  of  gold.  At  another 
time  we  read  of  him  boating  with  his  friends  Playfair  and  Hall 
along  the  wild  cliffs  of  Berwickshire,  again  in  search  of  con- 
firmation to  his  views,  and  finding,  to  use  the  words  of  Play- 

s 


258  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn 

fair,  "  palpable  evidence  of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
and  important  facts  in  the  natural  history  of  the  earth," 

As  a  result  of  his  wanderings  and  reflection,  he  con- 
cluded that  the  great  mass  of  the  rocks  which  form  the 
visible  part  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  was  formed  under  the 
sea,  as  sand,  gravel,  and  mud  are  laid  down  there  now ; 
that  these  ancient  sediments  were  consolidated  by  subter- 
ranean heat,  and,  by  paroxysms  of  the  same  force,  were 
fractured,  contorted,  and  upheaved  into  dry  land.  He 
found  that  portions  of  the  rocks  had  even  been  in  a  fused 
state  ;  that  granite  had  been  erupted  through  other  stony 
masses ;  and  that  the  dark  trap-rocks,  or  "  whinstones  "  of 
Scotland,  were  likewise  of  igneous  origin. 

When  the  sedimentary  rocks  were  studied  in  the  broad 
way  which  was  followed  by  Hutton  and  his  associates, 
many  proofs  appeared  of  ancient  convulsions  and  re-forma- 
tions of  the  earth's  surface.  It  was  found  that  among  the 
hills  the  strata  were  often  on  end,  while  on  the  plains  they 
were  gently  inclined ;  and  the  inference  was  deduced  by 
Hutton  that  the  former  series  must  have  been  broken  up 
by  subterranean  commotions  before  the  accumulation  of 
the  latter,  which  was  derived  from  its  debris.  He  conjec- 
tured that  the  later  rocks  would  be  found  actually  resting 
upon  the  edges  of  the  older.  His  search  for,  and  dis- 
covery of,  this  relation  at  the  Siccar  Point,  on  the  Berwick- 
shire coast,  are  well  described  by  his  biographer  Playfair, 
who  accompanied  him,  and  who,  dwelling  on  the  impres- 
sion which  the  scene  had  left  upon  himself,  adds,  "  The 
mind  seemed  to  grow  giddy  by  looking  so  far  into  the 
abyss  of  time ;  and  while  we  listened  with  earnestness  and 
admiration  to  the  philosopher  who  was  now  unfolding 
to  us  the  order  and  series  of  these  wonderful  events,  we 
became  sensible  how  much  farther  reason  may  sometimes 


xn]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  259 

go  than  imagination  can  venture  to  follow.  Sir  James 
Hall  afterwards,  by  a  series  of  characteristically  ingenious 
experiments,  showed  how  the  rocks  of  that  coast -line  may 
have  been  contorted  by  movements  in  the  crust  of  the 
earth  under  great  superincumbent  pressure. 

Hutton  contended  for  the  former  molten  condition  of 
granite  and  of  many  other  crystalline  masses.  He  main- 
tained that  the  combined  influence  of  subterranean  heat 
and  pressure  upon  sedimentary  rocks  could  consolidate 
and  mineralise  them,  and  even  convert  them  into  crystal- 
line masses.  He  may  thus  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of 
the  modern  doctrine  of  metamorphism,  or  the  gradual 
transformation  of  marine  sediments  into  the  gnarled  and 
rugged  gneiss  and  schist  of  which  mountains  are  built  up. 
Let  me  quote  the  eulogium  passed  upon  this  part  of  his 
work  in  an  essay  by  M.  Daubree,  which  eleven  years  ago 
was  crowned  with  a  prize  by  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at 
paris  : — "  By  an  idea  entirely  new,  the  illustrious  Scottish 
philosopher  showed  the  successive  co-operation  of  water 
and  the  internal  heat  of  the  globe  in  the  formation  of  the 
same  rocks.  It  is  the  mark  of  genius  to  unite  in  one 
common  origin  phenomena  very  different  in  their  nature." 
"  Hutton  explains  the  history  of  the  globe  with  as  much 
simplicity  as  grandeur.  Like  most  men  of  genius,  indeed, 
who  have  opened  up  new  paths,  he  exaggerated  the  extent 
to  which  his  conceptions  could  be  applied.  But  it  is 
impossible  not  to  view  with  admiration  the  profound 
penetration  and  the  strictness  of  induction  of  so  clear- 
sighted a  man  at  a  time  when  exact  observations  had 
been  so  few,  he  being  the  first  to  recognise  the  simul- 
taneous effect  of  water  and  heat  in  the  formation  of 
rocks,  in  imagining  a  system  which  embraces  the  whole 
physical  system  of  the  globe.  He  established  principles 


26o  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn 

which,  in  so  far  as  they  are  fundamental,  are  now  univer- 
sally admitted." 

While  Hutton  fortified  his  convictions  by  constant 
appeals  to  the  rocks  themselves,  his  disciple  Hall  tested 
their  truth  in  the  laboratory.  It  is  the  boast  of  Scotland  to 
have  led  the  way  in  the  application  of  chemical  and  phy- 
sical experiment  to  the  elucidation  of  geological  history. 
It  was  objected  to  Hutton's  theory,  that  if  basalt  and 
similar  rocks  had  ever  been  in  a  melted  state,  they  would 
now  have  been  seen  in  the  condition  of  glass  or  slag,  and 
not  with  the  granular  or  crystalline  texture  which  they 
actually  possess.  Hall  demolished  this  objection  by  melt- 
ing basalt  into  a  glass,  and  then,  by  slow  cooling,  reconvert- 
ing it  into  a  granular  substance  more  or  less  resembling  the 
original  rock.  Hutton  had  maintained  that  under  enormous 
pressure,  such  as  he  conceived  must  exist  beneath  the  ocean, 
or  deep  within  the  crust  of  the  earth,  even  limestone  itself 
might  be  melted  without  losing  its  carbonic  acid.  This 
was  ridiculed  by  his  opponents,  on  whom  he  retorted  that 
they  "  judged  of  the  great  operations  of  the  mineral  king- 
dom from  having  kindled  a  fire  and  looked  into  the  bottom 
of  a  little  crucible."  Hall,  however,  to  whom  fire  and 
crucible  were  congenial  implements,  resolved  to  put  the 
question  to  the  test  of  experiment,  and  though,  out  of 
deference  to  his  master,  he  delayed  his  task  until  after  the 
death  of  the  latter,  he  did  at  last  succeed  in  converting 
limestone,  under  various  great  pressures,  into  a  kind  of 
marble,  and  even  in  reducing  it  to  complete  fusion,  in 
which  state  it  acted  powerfully  on  other  rocks.  He  con- 
cluded his  elaborate  essay  on  this  subject  with  these 
words:  "This  single  result  affords,  I  conceive,  a  strong 
presumption  in  favour  of  the  solution  which  Dr.  Hutton 
has  advanced  of  all  the  geological  phenomena;  for  the 


xn]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  261 

truth  of  the  most  doubtful  principle  which  he  has  assumed 
has  thus  been  established  by  direct  experiment." 

Though  they  saw  clearly  the  proofs  which  the  rocks 
afford  us  of  former  revolutions,  neither  Hutton  nor  his 
friends  had  any  conception  of  the  existence  of  the  great 
series  of  fossiliferous  formations  which  has  since  been 
unfolded  by  the  labours  of  later  observers — that  volumin- 
ous record  in  which  the  history  of  life  upon  this  planet  has 
been  preserved.  They  spoke  of  "Alpine  schistus,"  " pri- 
mary "  or  "  secondary  "  strata,  as  if  the  geological  past  had 
consisted  but  of  two  great  ages — the  second  replete  with 
traces  of  the  destruction  of  the  first  "The  ruins  of  an 
older  world,"  said  Hutton,  "are  visible  in  the  present 
structure  of  our  planet."  He  knew  nothing  of  the  long, 
but  then  undiscovered,  succession  of  such  "ruins,"  each 
marking  a  wide  interval  of  time.  Nevertheless  for  the 
establishment  of  the  great  truths  which  Hutton  laboured  to 
confirm,  such  knowledge  was  not  necessary.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  was  most  needful  that  the  significance  of  that  dis- 
cordance between  the  older  and  newer  strata  which  Hutton 
recognised  should  be  persistently  proclaimed.  And  the 
Huttonians,  in  spite  of  their  limited  range  of  knowledge 
and  opportunity,  saw  its  value,  and  held  by  it. 

2.  But  it  was  not  merely,  nor  even  perhaps  chiefly,  for 
their  exposition  of  the  structure  and  history  of  the  rocks 
under  our  feet  that  the  geologists  of  the  Scottish  School 
deserve  to  be  held  in  lasting  remembrance.  They  could 
not,  indeed,  have  advanced  as  far  as  they  did  in  ex- 
pounding former  conditions  of  the  planet,  had  they  not, 
with  singular  clearness,  perceived  the  order  and  system  of 
change  which  is  in  progress  over  the  surface  of  the  globe 
at  the  present  day.  It  was  their  teaching  which  led  men 
to  recognise  the  harmony  and  co-operation  of  the  forces  of 


262  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xil 

nature  that  work  within  the  earth,  with  those  which  are 
seen  and  felt  upon  its  surface.  Hutton  first  caught  the 
meaning  of  that  constant  circulation  of  water  which,  by 
means  of  evaporation,  winds,  clouds,  rain,  snow,  brooks,  and 
rivers,  is  kept  up  between  land  and  sea.  He  saw  that  the 
surface  of  the  dry  land  is  everywhere  being  wasted  and 
worn  away.  The  scarped  cliff,  the  rugged  glen,  the  low- 
land valley,  are  each  undergoing  this  process  of  destruction  ; 
wherever  land  rises  above  ocean,  there,  from  mountain -top 
to  sea- shore,  degradation  is  continually  going  on.  Here 
and  there,  indeed,  the  debris  of  the  hills  may  be  spread 
out  upon  the  plains ;  here  and  there,  too,  dark  angular 
peaks  and  crags  rise  as  they  rose  centuries  ago,  and  seern 
to  defy  the  elements.  But  these  are  only  apparent  and 
not  real  exceptions  to  the  universal  law,  that  so  long  as  a 
surface  of  land  is  exposed  to  the  atmosphere  it  must  suffer 
disintegration  and  removal. 

But  Hutton  saw,  further,  that  this  waste  is  not  equally 
distributed  over  the  whole  face  of  the  dry  land.  He  per- 
ceived that  while,  owing  to  the  greater  or  less  resistance 
offered  by  different  kinds  of  rocks,  the  decay  must  vary 
indefinitely  in  rate,  its  amount  must  necessarily  be  greatest 
where  the  surplus  water  flows  off  towards  the  sea — that 
is,  along  the  channels  of  the  streams.  Watercourses,  he 
argued,  are  precisely  in  the  lines  which  water  would  natur- 
ally follow  in  running  down  the  slope  of  the  land  from  its 
water-shed  to  the  sea,  and  which,  when  once  selected  by 
the  surplus  drainage,  would  necessarily  be  continually 
widened  and  deepened  by  the  excavating  power  of  the 
rivers.  He  regarded  the  streams  and  rivers  of  a  country 
as  following  the  lines(  which  they  had  chiselled  for  them- 
selves out  of  the  solid  land,  and  thus  he  arrived  at  the 
deduction  that  valleys  have  been,  inch  by  inch  and  foot 


xii]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  263 

by  foot,  dug  out  of  the  solid  framework  of  the  land  by  the 
same  natural  agents — rain,  frost,  springs,  rivers — by  which 
they  are  still  made  wider  and  deeper.  "The  mountains," 
he  said,  "  have  been  formed  by  the  hollowing  out  of  the 
valleys,  and  the  valleys  have  been  hollowed  out  by  the 
attrition  of  hard  materials  coming  from  the  mountains." 
This  is  a  doctrine  which  is  only  now  beginning  to  be 
adequately  realised  Yet  to  Hutton  it  was  so  obvious  as 
to  convince  him,  to  use  his  own  memorable  words,  "  that 
the  great  system  upon  the  surface  of  this  earth  is  that  of 
valleys  and  rivers,  and  that  however  this  system  shall  be 
interrupted  and  occasionally  destroyed,  it  would  necessarily 
be  again  formed  in  time  while  the  earth  continued  above 
the  level  of  the  sea." 

Although  these  views  were  again  and  again  proclaimed 
by  Hutton  in  the  pages  of  his  treatise,  and  though  Playfair, 
catching  up  the  spirit  of  his  master,  preached  them  with  a 
force  and  eloquence  which  might  almost  have  insured  the 
triumph  of  any  cause,  they  met  with  but  scant  acceptance. 
The  men  were  before  their  time ;  and  thus  while  the  world 
gradually  acknowledged  the  teaching  of  the  Scottish  School 
as  to  the  past  history  of  the  rocks,  it  lent  an  incredulous 
ear  to  that  teaching  when  dealing  with  the  present  surface 
of  the  earth.  Even  some  of  the  Huttonians  themselves 
refused  to  follow  their  master  when  he  sought  to  explain 
the  existing  inequalities  of  the  land  by  the  working  of  the 
same  quiet  unobtrusive  forces  which  are  still  plying  their 
daily  tasks  around  us.  But  no  incredulity  or  neglect  can 
destroy  the  innate  vitality  of  truth.  And  so  now,  after  the 
lapse  of  fully  two  generations,  the  views  of  Hutton  have  in 
recent  years  been  revived,  especially  in  Britain,  and  have 
become  the  war-cry  of  a  yearly  increasing  crowd  of  earnest 
hard-working  geologists. 


264  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn 

While  they  insisted  upon  the  manifest  proofs  of  constant 
and  universal  decay  over  the  surface  of  the  globe,  the 
Scottish  geologists  no  less  strongly  contended  that  this 
decay  was  a  necessary  part  of  the  present  economy  of 
nature,  that  it  had  been  in  progress  from  the  earliest 
periods  in  the  history  of  the  earth,  and  that  it  was  essential 
for  the  presence  of  organised  beings  upon  the  planet. 
They  pointed  to  the  vegetable  soil,  derived  from  the 
decomposition  of  the  rocks  which  it  covers,  and  necessary 
for  the  support  of  vegetable  life.  They  appealed  to  the 
vast  quantity  of  sedimentary  rocks  forming  the  visible  part 
of  the  crust  of  the  earth,  and  bearing  witness  in  every  bed 
and  layer  to  the  degradation  and  removal  of  former  con- 
tinents. They  showed  that  the  accumulated  debris  of  the 
land,  carried  to  sea,  was  there  spread  out  on  the  sea-floor 
to  form  new  strata,  which,  hardened  in  due  time  into  solid 
rock,  would  hereafter  be  upheaved  to  form  the  frame-work 
of  new  lands. 

Such  was  the  geology  of  the  Scottish  School.  It  was 
based  not  on  mere  speculation,  but  on  broad  fundamental 
facts  drawn  from  mountain  and  valley,  hill  and  plain,  and 
tested  as  far  as  was  then  possible  by  the  scrutiny  of  actual 
experiment.  It  strove,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of 
science,  to  evolve  a  system  out  of  the  manifold  complica- 
tions of  nature,  to  harmonise  what  had  seemed  but  the 
wild  random  working  of  subterranean  forces  with  the  quiet 
operations  in  progress  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth,  to 
understand  what  is  the  present  system  of  the  world,  and 
through  that  to  peer  into  the  history  of  earlier  conditions 
of  the  planet  It  taught  that  the  earthquake  and  volcano 
were  parts  of  the  orderly  arrangement  by  which  new  con- 
tinents were  from  time  to  time  raised  up  to  supply  the 
place  of  others  that  had  been  worn  away ;  that  the  surface 


xn]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  265 

of  the  land  required  to  decay  to  furnish  life  to  plants  and 
animals ;  that  in  the  removal  of  the  debris  thus  produced 
mountains  and  valleys  were  carved  out ;  and  that  in  the 
depths  of  the  ocean  there  were  at  the  same  time  laid  down 
the  materials  for  the  formation  of  other  lands,  which  in 
after  ages  would  be  upheaved  by  underground  forces,  to  be 
anew  worn  away  as  before.  The  Scottish  School  pro- 
claimed that  in  the  inorganic  world  there  is  ceaseless 
change,  that  this  change  is  the  central  idea  of  the  system, 
and  that  in  its  constant  progress  lie  the  conditions  neces- 
sary for  the  continuance  of  our  earth  as  a  habitable  globe. 

That  Hutton  and  his  followers  failed  to  realise  that 
the  planet  has  had  a  vastly  prolonged  evolution  which  the 
visible  geological  record  chronicles  only  imperfectly,  that 
they  were  ignorant  of  the  geological  importance  of  fossils, 
that  they  saw  only  partially  the  truths  which  they  laboured 
so  zealously  to  establish,  and  that  they  fell  into  errors, 
attaching  to  secondary  and  even  erroneous  parts  of  their 
system  an  importance  which  we  now  see  to  have  been  mis- 
placed, is  only  what  may  be  said  of  any  body  of  men  who, 
at  any  time,  have  led  the  way  in  a  new  development  of 
human  inquiry.  But,  after  all  allowance  is  made  for  such 
shortcomings,  we  see  that  their  mistakes  were,  for  the  most 
part,  mainly  in  matters  of  detail,  and  that  the  fundamental 
principles  for  which  they  fought  have  become  the  very  life 
and  soul  of  modern  geology. 

I  have  spoken  of  this  Scottish  School  as  marking  a 
period  of  activity  which  rose  into  brightness  and  then 
waned.  It  is  only  too  true,  that  so  far  as  the  originality 
and  influence  of  its  cultivators  go,  Geology  has  never  since 
held  in  Scotland  the  place  which  it  held  here  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century.  Its  decay  is  perhaps  to  be  ascribed 
chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  to  the  introduction  of  the  doctrines 


266  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn 

of  Werner  from  Germany  The  Huttonians  had  dealt 
rather  with  general  principles  than  with  minute  details ; 
they  were  weak  in  accurate  mineralogical  knowledge — not 
that  they  were  ignorant  of  or  in  any  degree  despised  such 
knowledge ;  but  it  was  not  necessary  for  their  object. 
When,  however,  the  system  of  Werner  came  to  be  taught 
within  these  wails  by  his  devoted  pupil  Jameson,  its  pre- 
cision and  simplicity,  and  its  supposed  capability  of  ready 
application  in  every  country,  joined  to  the  skill  and  zeal  of 
its  teacher,  gave  it  an  impulse  which  lasted  for  years.  I 
shall  have  occasion  in  a  subsequent  lecture  to  speak  of  this 
system.  It  attempted  to  explain  the  geological  history  of 
the  globe  from  the  rocks  of  a  limited  district  in  Saxony. 
It  required  mineralogical  determination  of  rocks  and  pointed 
out  a  certain  order  of  succession  among  them.  In  so  far 
it  did  good  service,  but  its  theoretical  teaching  as  regards 
the  history  of  the  earth  cannot  now  be  regarded  without  a 
smile.  It  maintained  that  the  globe  was  covered  with  cer- 
tain universal  formations  which  had  been  precipitated  suc- 
cessively from  solution  in  a  primeval  ocean.  Of  upheaval 
and  subsidence,  earthquakes  and  volcanoes,  and  all  the 
mechanism  of  internal  heat,  it  could  make  nothing,  and 
ignored  as  much  as  it  dared.  Werner,  the  founder  of  this 
system,  had  the  faculty  of  attaching  his  students  to  him, 
and  of  infusing  into  them  no  small  share  of  his  own  zeal 
and  faith  in  his  doctrines.  His  pupil  Jameson  had  a 
similar  aptitude.  Skilled  in  the  mineralogy  of  his  time, 
and  full  of  desire  to  apply  the  teachings  of  Freyberg  to 
the  explication  of  Scottish  geology,  or  geognosy,  as  the 
Wernerians  preferred  to  call  it,  Jameson  gathered  round 
him  a  band  of  active  observers,  who  gleaned  facts  from  all 
parts  of  Scotland,  and  to  whom  the  first  accurate  descrip- 
tions of  the  mineralogy  of  the  country  are  due.  It  is  but 


xn]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  267 

fitting  that  a  tribute  of  gratitude  should  on  the  present 
occasion  be  offered  to  the  memory  of  Jameson  for  the  life- 
long devotion  with  which  he  taught  Natural  History,  and 
especially  Mineralogy,  in  this  University.  His  influence  is 
to  be  judged  not  by  what  he  wrote,  but  by  the  effect  of 
his  example,  and  by  the  number  of  ardent  naturalists  who 
sprang  from  his  teaching.  He  founded  a  scientific  society 
here,  and  called  it  Wernerian,  after  his  chief — a  society 
which,  under  his  guidance,  did  excellent  service  to  the 
cause  of  science  in  Scotland.  And  yet  in  the  course  of 
my  scientific  reading  I  have  never  met  a  sadder  contrast 
than  to  turn  from  the  earlier  volumes  of  the  Transactions 
of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  containing  the  classic 
essays  of  Hutton,  Hall,  and  Playfair — essays  which  made 
an  epoch  in  the  history  of  geology — to  the  pages  of  the 
Wernerian  Memoirs,  and  find  grave  discussions  about  the 
universal  formations,  the  aqueous  origin  of  basalt,  and  the 
chemical  disposition  of  such  rocks  as  slate  and  conglomerate  J 
Between  the  followers  of  Hutton  and  Werner  there 
necessarily  arose  a  keen  warfare.  The  one  battalion  of 
combatants  was  styled  by  its  opponents  "  Vulcanists "  or 
"  Plutonists,"  as  if  they  recognised  only  the  power  of 
internal  fire,  while  the  other  was  in  turn  nicknamed 
"  Neptunists,"  in  token  of  their  adherence  to  water.  The 
warfare  lasted  in  a  desultory  way  for  many  years,  and 
though  the  Wernerian  school,  having  essentially  no  vitality, 
eventually  died  out,  and  its  leader  Jameson  publicly  and 
frankly  recanted  its  errors,  the  early  Huttonian  magnates 
had  meanwhile  one  by  one  departed  and  left  no  successors. 
The  Huttonian  school  triumphed  indeed,  but  its  triumph 
was  seen  rather  in  other  countries  than  in  Scotland,  and 
was  due  chiefly  to  the  impetus  given  to  the  reception  of 
its  doctrine?  by  the  Principles  of  Geology  of  Lyell.  The 


268  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn 

Wernerian  faith  preached  here  by  Jameson  attracted  in 
great  measure  the  younger  men,  and  when  its  influence 
waned  there  were  no  great  names  on  the  other  side  to 
rally  the  thinned  and  weakened  ranks  of  Huttonianism. 
Hence  came  a  period  of  comparative  quiescence,  which  has 
lasted  almost  down  to  our  own  day.  From  time  to  time, 
indeed,  a  geologist  has  arisen  among  us  to  show  that  the 
science  was  not  dead,  and  that  the  doctrines  of  Hutton  had 
borne  good  fruit.  But  geology  has  never  since  held  such  a 
prominent  place  in  Scotland,  nor  have  the  writings  of  our 
geologists  taken  the  same  position  in  the  literature  of  the 
science.  The  great  name  of  Lyell,  and  others  of  lesser 
note,  have  earned  elsewhere  their  title  to  fame. 

But  there  is  one  name  which  must  be  in  our  hearts  and 
on  our  lips  to-day,  that  of  Roderick  Impey  Murchison.  To 
his  munificence  and  the  liberality  of  the  Crown  we  owe 
the  foundation  of  this  Chair  of  Geology,  and  to  his  warm 
friendship  I  am  indebted  for  the  position  in  which  I  stand 
before  you.  Of  his  achievements  in  science,  and  of  the 
influence  of  his  work  all  over  the  world,  it  is  not  necessary 
now  to  speak  ;  but  on  Scottish  Geology  no  man  has  left 
his  name  more  deeply  engraven.  It  was  he  who,  with 
Professor  Sedgwick,  first  made  known  the  order  of  succes- 
sion of  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  of  the  north  of  Scotland ; 
it  was  he  who  sketched  for  us  the  relations  of  the  great 
Silurian  masses  of  the  Southern  uplands ;  and  it  was  he 
who,  by  a  series  of  admirable  researches,  brought  order  out 
of  the  chaos  of  the  so-called  primary  rocks  of  the  High- 
lands, and  placed  these  rocks  on  a  parallel  with  the  Silurian 
strata  of  other  countries.  These  labours  will  come  again 
before  us  in  detail,  and  you  will  then  better  understand 
their  value,  and  the  debt  we  owe  to  the  man  who  accom- 
plished them. 


xn]  THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  269 

Sir  Roderick  Murchison  looked  forward  with  interest 
to  the  occasion  which  has  called  us  together  to-day.  Only 
a  few  weeks  ago  I  talked  with  him  regarding  it,  and  his  eye 
brightened  as  I  told  him  of  the  subject  on  which  I  pro- 
posed to  speak  to  you.  I  had  hoped  that  he  would  have 
lived  to  see  this  day,  and  to  hear  at  least  of  the  beginning 
of  the  work  which  he  has  inaugurated  for  us  in  this  Uni- 
versity ;  but  this  was  not  to  be.  He  has  been  taken  from 
us  ripe  in  years,  in  work,  and  in  honours,  and  he  leaves 
us  the  example  of  his  unwearied  industry,  his  admirable 
powers  of  observation,  and  his  rare  goodness  of  heart. 

In  the  course  of  study  now  before  us,  we  are  to  be 
engaged  in  examining  together  the  structure  and  history  of 
the  earth.  We  shall  trace  the  working  of  the  various 
natural  agents  which  are  now  carrying  on  geological  change, 
and  by  which  the  past  changes  of  the  globe  may  be  ex- 
plained. In  so  doing  we  shall  be  brought  continually  face 
to  face  with  the  history  of  life  as  recorded  in  the  rocks — 
for  it  is  by  that  history  mainly  that  the  sequences  of 
geological  time  can  be  established.  We  shall  thus  have  to 
trespass  a  little  on  what  is  the  proper  domain  of  the  Pro- 
fessors of  Botany  and  of  Natural  History.  But  you  will 
find  that  no  hard  line  can  be  drawn  between  the  sciences. 
Each  must  needs  overlap  upon  the  other ;  and  indeed  it 
is  in  this  mutual  interlacing  that  one  great  element  of  the 
strength  and  interest  of  science  lies.  From  Professors 
Balfour  and  Wyville  Thomson  you  will  learn  the  structure 
of  the  fossils  with  which  we  shall  have  to  deal  as  our 
geological  alphabet,  and  their  relation  to  living  plants  and 
animals.  By  Professor  Crum  Brown  you  are  taught  the 
full  meaning  and  application  of  the  chemical  laws  under 
which  the  minerals  and  rocks,  which  we  in  this  class  must 
study,  have  been  formed,  and  of  the  processes  concerned 


270  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn 

in  those  subsequent  changes,  both  of  rocks  and  minerals, 
which  are  of  such  paramount  importance  in  Geology. 

And  now,  in  conclusion,  permit  me  to  give  expression 
to  the  feelings  which  must  strongly  possess  the  mind  of  one 
who  is  called  upon  to  fill  the  first  Chair  dedicated  in  Scot- 
land to  the  cultivation  of  Geology.  When  I  look  back  to 
the  times  of  that  illustrious  group  of  men — Hutton,  Hall, 
Playfair — who  made  Edinburgh  the  special  home  of 
Geology ;  of  Boue  and  MacCulloch,  who  gave  to  Scottish 
rocks  an  European  celebrity ;  of  Jameson  and  Edward 
Forbes,  who  did  so  much  to  stimulate  the  study  of  Geology 
and  Mineralogy  in  this  University ;  and  to  the  memory  of 
Hugh  Miller  and  Charles  Maclaren,  who  fostered  the  love 
of  these  sciences  throughout  the  community,  and  for  whose 
kindly  friendship  and  guidance  given  to  me  in  my  boyhood 
I  would  fain  express  my  hearty  gratitude — when  I  cast  my 
thoughts  back  upon  these  associations,  it  would  be  affecta- 
tion to  conceal  the  anxiety  with  which  the  prospect  fills  me. 
The  memory  of  these  great  names  arises  continually  before 
me,  bearing  with  it  a  consciousness  of  the  responsibility 
under  which  I  lie  to  labour  earnestly  not  to  be  unworthy 
of  the  traditions  of  the  past.  And,  gentlemen,  I  feel  deeply 
my  responsibility  to  you  who  are  to  enter  with  me  upon  a 
yet  untrodden  path  of  the  Academic  curriculum.  It  is  only 
experience  that  will  show  us  how  we  shall  best  travel  over 
the  wide  field  before  us.  In  the  meantime  I  must  bespeak 
your  kindly  forbearance.  While  I  shall  cheerfully  teach 
you  all  I  know,  and  confess  what  I  do  not  know,  I  would 
fain  have  you  in  the  end  to  regard  me  as  much  in  the  light 
of  a  fellow-student,  searching  with  you  after  truth,  as  of  a 
teacher  putting  before  you  what  is  already  known.  We 
have  now  an  opportunity  of  combined  and  sedulous  work 
which  has  not  hitherto  been  obtainable  in  Scotland.  We 


xii]          THE  SCOTTISH  SCHOOL  OF  GEOLOGY.  271 

may  not  rival  a  Hutton  or  a  Hall ;  but  we  may  at  least  try 
to  raise  again  the  standard  of  geological  inquiry  here.  On 
every  side  of  us  are  incentives  to  study.  Crag  and  hill 
rise  around  us,  each  eloquent  of  ancient  revolutions,  and 
each  a  silent  witness  of  the  revolution  in  progress  now. 
At  our  very  gates  tower  on  one  side  the  picturesque  memo- 
rials of  long  silent  volcanoes,  with  their  crumbling  lavas  and 
ashes.  On  the  other  lies  the  buried  vegetation  of  an 
ancient  land,  with  the  corals  and  shells  of  a  former  ocean. 
Everywhere  the  scarred  and  wasted  rocks  tell  of  the  de- 
gradation of  the  solid  land,  and  show  us  how  the  waste 
goes  on.  Let  us  then  carry  into  our  task  some  share  of 
the  enthusiasm  which  these  daily  exemplars  called  forth  in 
bygone  times.  Let  us  turn  from  the  lessons  of  the  lecture- 
room  to  the  lessons  of  the  crags  and  ravines,  appealing 
constantly  to  nature  for  the  explanation  and  verification  of 
what  is  taught.  And  thus,  whatsoever  may  be  your  career 
in  future,  you  will  in  the  meantime  cultivate  habits  of 
observation  and  communion  with  the  free  fresh  world 
around  you — habits  which  will  give  a  zest  to  every  journey, 
which  will  enable  you  to  add  to  the  sum  of  human  know- 
ledge, and  which  will  assuredly  make  you  wiser  and  better 
men. 


272  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 


XIIL 

GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.1 

IN  the  quaint  preface  to  his  Navigations  and  Voyages  of  the 
English  Nation,  Hakluyt  calls  geography  and  chronology 
"  the  sunne  and  moone,  the  right  eye  and  the  left  of  all 
history."  The  position  thus  claimed  for  geography  three 
hundred  years  ago  by  the  great  English  chronicler  was  not 
accorded  by  his  successors,  and  has  hardly  been  admitted 
even  now.  The  functions  of  the  geographer  and  the 
traveller,  popularly  assumed  to  be  identical,  have  been 
supposed  to  consist  in  descriptions  of  foreign  countries, 
their  climate,  productions,  and  inhabitants,  bristling  on  the 
one  hand  with  dry  statistics,  and  relieved  on  the  other  by 
as  copious  an  introduction  as  may  be  of  stirring  adventure 
and  personal  anecdote.  There  has  indeed  been  much  to 
justify  this  popular  assumption.  It  was  not  until  the  key- 
note of  its  future  progress  was  struck  by  Karl  Ritter,  within 
the  present  century,  that  geography  advanced  beyond  the 
domain  of  travellers'  tales  and  desultory  observation  into 
that  of  orderly,  methodical,  scientific  progress.  This  branch 
of  inquiry,  however,  is  now  no  longer  the  pursuit  of  mere 
numerical  statistics,  nor  the  chronicle  of  marvellous  and 
often  questionable  adventures  by  flood  and  fell.  It  seeks 

1  A  Lecture  delivered  at  the  Evening  Meeting  of  the  Royal  Geo- 
graphical Society,  24th  March  1879. 


xm]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  273 

to  present  a  luminous  picture  of  the  earth's  surface,  its 
various  forms  of  configuration,  its  continents,  islands,  and 
oceans,  its  mountains,  valleys,  and  plains,  its  rivers  and 
lakes,  its  climates,  plants,  and  animals.  It  thus  endeavours 
to  produce  a  picture  which  shall  not  be  one  of  mere  topo- 
graphical detail.  It  ever  looks  for  a  connection  between 
scattered  facts,  tries  to  ascertain  the  relations  which  subsist 
between  the  different  parts  of  the  globe,  their  reactions  on 
each  other  and  the  function  of  each  in  the  general  economy 
of  the  whole.  Modern  geography  studies  the  distribution 
of  vegetable  and  animal  life  over  the  earth's  surface,  with 
the  action  and  reaction  between  it  and  the  surrounding 
inorganic  world.  It  traces  how  man,  alike  unconsciously 
and  knowingly,  has  changed  the  face  of  nature,  and  how, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  conditions  of  his  geographical 
environment  have  moulded  his  own  progress. 

With  these  broad  aims,  geography  comes  frankly  for 
assistance  to  many  different  branches  of  science.  It  does 
not,  however,  claim  in  any  measure  to  occupy  their  domain. 
It  brings  to  the  consideration  of  their  problems  a  central 
human  interest  in  which  these  sciences  are  sometimes  apt 
to  be  deficient ;  for  it  demands  first  of  all  to  know  how  the 
problems  to  be  solved  bear  upon  the  position  and  history 
of  man  and  of  this  marvellously-ordered  world  wherein  he 
finds  himself  undisputed  lord.  Geography  freely  borrows 
from  meteorology,  physics,  chemistry,  geology,  zoology,  and 
botany ;  but  the  debt  is  not  all  on  one  side.  Save  for  the 
impetus  derived  from  geographical  research,  many  of  these 
sciences  would  not  be  in  their  present  advanced  condition. 
They  gain  in  vast  augmentation  of  facts,  and  may  cheer- 
fully lend  their  aid  in  correlating  these  for  geographical 
requirements. 

In  no  respect  does  modern  geography  stand  out  more 
T 


274  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xn. 

prominently  than  in  the  increased  precision  and  fulness  of 
its  work.  It  has  fitted  out  exploratory  expeditions,  and  in 
so  doing  has  been  careful  to  see  them  provided  with  the 
instruments  and  apparatus  necessary  to  enable  them  to 
contribute  accurate  and  definite  results.  It  has  guided  and 
fostered  research,  and  has  been  eager  to  show  a  generous 
appreciation  of  the  labours  of  those  by  whom  our  knowledge 
of  the  earth  has  been  extended.  Human  courage  and 
endurance  are  not  less  enthusiastically  applauded  than  they 
once  were  ;  but  they  must  be  united  to  no  common  powers 
of  observation  before  they  will  now  raise  a  traveller  to  the 
highest  rank.  When  we  read  a  volume  of  recent  travel, 
while  warmly  appreciating  the  spirit  of  adventure,  fertility 
of  resource,  presence  of  mind,  and  other  moral  qualities  of 
its  author,  we  instinctively  ask  ourselves,  as  we  close  its 
pages,  what  is  the  sum  of  its  additions  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  earth  ?  From  the  geographical  point  of  view — and 
it  is  to  this  point  alone  that  these  remarks  apply — we  must 
rank  an  explorer  according  to  his  success  in  widening  our 
knowledge  and  enlarging  our  views  regarding  the  aspects 
of  nature. 

The  demands  of  modern  geography  are  thus  becoming 
every  year  more  exacting.  It  requires  more  training  in  its 
explorers  abroad,  more  knowledge  on  the  part  of  its  readers 
at  home.  The  days  are  drawing  to  a  close  when  one  can 
gain  undying  geographical  renown  by  struggling  against 
man  and  beast,  fever  and  hunger  and  drought,  across  some 
savage  and  previously  unknown  region,  even  though  little 
can  be  shown  as  the  outcome  of  the  journey.  All  honour 
to  the  pioneers  by  whom  this  first  exploratory  work  has 
been  so  nobly  done !  They  will  be  succeeded  by  a  race 
that  will  find  its  laurels  more  difficult  to  win — a  race  from 
which  more  will  be  expected,  and  which  will  need  to  make 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  275 

up  in  the  variety,  amount,  and  value  of  its  detail,  what  it 
lacks  in  the  freshness  of  first  glimpses  into  new  lands. 

With  no  other  science  has  geography  become  more 
intimately  connected  than  with  geology,  and  the  connec- 
tion is  assuredly  destined  to  become  yet  deeper  and  closer. 
These  two  branches  of  human  knowledge  are,  to  use 
Hakluyt's  phrase,  "  the  sunne  and  moone,  the  right  eye 
and  the  left,"  of  all  fruitful  inquiry  into  the  character  and 
history  of  the  earth's  surface.  As  it  is  impossible  to 
understand  the  genius  and  temperament  of  a  people,  its 
laws  and  institutions,  its  manners  and  customs,  its  buildings 
and  its  industries,  unless  we  trace  back  the  history  of  that 
people,  and  mark  the  rise  and  effect  of  each  varied  influ- 
ence by  which  its  progress  has  been  moulded  in  past 
generations ;  so  it  is  clear  that  our  knowledge  of  the 
aspect  of  a  continent,  its  mountains  and  valleys,  rivers  and 
plains,  and  all  its  surface -features,  cannot  be  other  than 
singularly  feeble  and  imperfect,  unless  we  realise  what  has 
been  the  origin  of  these  features.  The  land  has  had  a 
history,  not  less  than  the  human  races  that  inhabit  it. 

One  can  hardly  consider  attentively  the  future  progress 
of  geography  without  being  convinced  that  in  the  wide 
development  yet  in  store  for  this  branch  of  human 
inquiry,  one  of  its  main  lines  of  advance  must  be  in  the 
direction  of  what  may  be  termed  geographical  evolution. 
The  geographer  will  no  longer  be  content  to  take  conti- 
nents and  islands,  mountain  chains  and  river  valleys,  table- 
lands and  plains,  as  initial  or  aboriginal  outlines  of  the 
earth's  surface.  He  will  insist  on  knowing  what  the  geolo- 
gist can  tell  him  regarding  the  growth  of  these  outlines. 
He  will  try  to  trace  out  the  gradual  evolution  of  a  conti- 
nent, and  may  even  construct  maps  to  show  its  successive 
stages  of  development.  At  the  same  time,  he  will  seek 


276  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 

for  information  regarding  the  history  of  the  plants  and 
animals  of  the  region,  and  may  find  much  to  reward  his 
inquiry  as  to  the  early  migrations  of  the  fauna  and  flora, 
including  those  even  of  man  himself.  Thus  his  pictures 
of  the  living  world  of  to-day,  as  they  become  more  detailed 
and  accurate,  will  include  more  and  more  distinctly  a  back- 
ground of  bygone  geographical  conditions,  out  of  which, 
by  continuous  sequence,  the  present  conditions  will  be 
shown  to  have  arisen. 

I  propose  this  evening  to  sketch  in  mere  outline  the 
aspects  of  one  side  of  this  evolutional  geography.  I  wish 
to  examine,  in  the  first  place,  the  evidence  whereby  we 
establish  the  fundamental  fact  that  the  present  surface  of 
any  country  or  continent  is  not  that  which  it  has  always 
borne,  and  the  data  by  which  we  may  trace  backward  the 
origin  of  the  land ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  to  consider, 
by  way  of  illustration,  some  of  the  more  salient  features  in 
the  gradual  growth  of  the  framework  of  Europe. 

The  first  of  these  two  divisions  of  the  subject  deals 
with  general  principles,  and  may  be  conveniently  grouped 
into  two  parts  :  ist,  The  Materials  of  the  Land.  2d,  The 
Building  of  the  Land. 

I.  GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  CONTINENTAL  EVOLUTION. 
i. — The  Materials  of  the  Land. 

Without  attempting  to  enter  into  detailed  treatment  of 
this  branch  of  the  subject,  we  may,  for  the  immediate 
purpose  in  view,  content  ourselves  with  the  broad,  useful 
classification  of  the  materials  of  the  land  into  two  great 
series — Fragmental  and  Crystalline. 

§  i.  Fragmental. — A  very  cursory  examination  of  rocks 
in  almost  any  part  of  the  world  suffices  to  show  that  by  far 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  277 

the  larger  portion  of  them  consists  of  compacted  fragment- 
ary materials.  Shales,  sandstones,  and  conglomerates,  in 
infinite  variety  of  texture  and  colour,  are  piled  above  each 
other  to  form  the  foundation  of  plains  and  the  structure  of 
mountains.  Each  of  these  rocks  is  composed  of  distinct 
particles,  worn  by  air,  rain,  frost,  springs,  rivers,  glaciers, 
or  the  sea,  from  previously  existing  rocks.  They  are  thus 
derivative  formations,  and  their  source,  as  well  as  their 
mode  of  origin,  can  be  determined.  Their  component 
grains  are  for  the  most  part  rounded,  and  bear  evidence  of 
having  been  rolled  about  in  water.  Thus  we  easily  and 
rapidly  reach  a  first  and  fundamental  conclusion — that  the 
substance  of  the  main  part  of  the  solid  land  has  been 
originally  laid  down  and  assorted  under  water. 

The  mere  extent  of  the  area  covered  by  these  water  - 
formed  rocks  would  of  itself  suggest  that  they  must  have 
been  deposited  in  the  sea.  We  cannot  imagine  rivers  or 
lakes  of  magnitude  sufficient  to  have  spread  over  the  sites 
of  the  present  continents.  The  waters  of  the  ocean,  how- 
ever, may  easily  be  conceived  to  have  rolled  at  different 
times  over  all  that  is  now  dry  land.  The  fragmental  rocks 
contain,  indeed,  within  themselves  proof  that  they  were 
mainly  of  marine,  and  not  of  lacustrine  or  fluviatile  origin. 
They  have  preserved  in  abundance  the  remains  of  fora- 
minifera,  corals,  crinoids,  molluscs,  annelides,  crustaceans, 
fishes,  and  other  organisms  of  undoubtedly  marine  habitat, 
which  must  have  lived  and  died  in  the  places  where  their 
traces  remain  still  visible. 

But  not  only  do  these  organisms  occur  scattered 
through  sedimentary  rocks ;  they  actually  themselves  form 
thick  masses  of  mineral  matter.  The  Carboniferous  or 
Mountain  Limestone  of  Central  England  and  Ireland,  for 
example,  reaches  a  thickness  of  from  2000  to  3000  feet, 


278  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 

and  covers  thousands  of  square  miles  of  surface.  Yet  it  is 
almost  entirely  composed  of  congregated  stems  and  joints 
and  plates  of  crinoids,  with  foraminifera,  corals,  bryozoans, 
brachiopods,  lamellibranchs,  gasteropods,  fish-teeth,  and 
other  unequivocally  marine  organisms.  It  must  have  been 
for  ages  the  bottom  of  a  clear  sea,  over  which  generation 
after  generation  lived  and  died,  until  their  accumulated 
remains  had  gathered  into  a  deep  and  compact  sheet  of 
rock.  From  the  internal  evidence  of  the  stratified  forma- 
tions we  thus  confidently  announce  a  second  conclusion — 
that  a  great  portion  of  the  solid  land  consists  of  materials 
which  have  been  laid  down  on  the  floor  of  the  sea. 

From  these  familiar  and  obvious  deductions  we  may 
proceed  further  to  inquire  under  what  conditions  these 
marine  formations,  spreading  so  widely  over  the  land,  were 
formed.  According  to  a  popular  belief,  shared  in  perhaps 
by  not  a  few  geologists,  land  and  sea  have  been  continually 
changing  places.  It  is  supposed  that  while,  on  the  one 
hand,  there  is  no  part  of  a  continent  over  which  sea- waves 
may  not  have  rolled,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  no 
lonely  abyss  of  the  ocean  where  a  wide  continent  may  not 
have  bloomed.  That  this  notion  rests  upon  a  mistaken 
interpretation  of  the  facts  may  be  shown  from  an  examina- 
tion— (i)  of  the  rocks  of  the  land,  and  (2)  of  the  bottom  of 
the  present  ocean. 

(i)  Among  the  thickest  masses  ot  sedimentary  rock — 
those  of  the  ancient  palaeozoic  systems — no  features  recur 
more  continually  than  alternations  of  different  sediments, 
and  surfaces  of  rock  covered  with  well-preserved  ripple- 
marks,  trails  and  burrows  of  annelides,  polygonal  and 
irregular  desiccation  marks,  like  the  cracks  at  the  bottom  of 
a  sun-dried  muddy  p6ol.  These  phenomena  unequivocally 
point  to  shallow  and  even  littoral  waters.  They  occui 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  279 

Jrom  bottom  to  top  of  deposits  which  reach  a  thickness  of 
several  thousand  feet.  They  can  be  interpreted  only  in 
one  way,  viz.  that  their  deposition  began  in  shallow  water; 
that  during  their  formation  the  area  of  deposit  gradually 
subsided  for  thousands  of  feet;  yet  that  the  rate  of  accu- 
mulation of  sediment  kept  pace  on  the  whole  with  this 
depression ;  and  hence,  that  the  original  shallow-water 
character  of  the  deposits  remained,  even  after  the  original 
sea-bottom  had  been  buried  under  a  vast  mass  of  sedi- 
mentary matter.  Now,  if  this  explanation  be  true,  even  for 
the  enormously  thick  and  comparatively  uniform  systems 
of  older  geological  periods,  the  relatively  thin  and  much 
more  varied  stratified  groups  of  later  date  can  offer  no 
difficulty.  In  short,  the  more  attentively  the  stratified 
rocks  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  are  studied,  the  more 
striking  becomes  the  absence  of  any  deposits  among  them 
which  can  legitimately  be  considered  those  of  a  deep  sea. 
They  have  all  been  deposited  in  comparatively  shallow 
water. 

The  same  conclusion  may  be  arrived  at  from  a  consider- 
ation of  the  circumstances  under  which  the  deposition  must 
have  taken  place.  It  is  evident  that  the  sedimentary  rocks 
of  all  ages  have  been  derived  from  degradation  of  land. 
The  gravel,  sand,  and  mud,  of  which  they  consist,  existed 
previously  as  part  of  mountains,  hills,  or  plains.  These 
materials  carried  down  to  the  sea  would  arrange  themselves 
there  as  they  do  still,  the  coarser  portions  nearest  the  shore, 
the  finer  silt  and  mud  farthest  from  it.  From  the  earliest 
geological  times  the  great  area  of  deposit  has  been,  as  it 
still  is,  the  marginal  belt  of  sea-floor  skirting  the  land.  It 
is  there  that  nature  has  always  strewn  "  the  dust  of  conti- 
nents to  be."  The  decay  of  old  rocks  has  been  unceasingly 
in  progress  on  the  land,  and  the  building  up  of  new  rocks 


280  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xin 

has  been  unintermittently  going  on  underneath  the  adjoining 
sea.  The  two  phenomena  are  the  complementary  sides  of 
one  process,  which  belongs  to  the  terrestrial  and  shallow 
oceanic  parts  of  the  earth's  surface  and  not  to  the  wide 
and  deep  ocean  basins. 

(2)  Recent  explorations  of  the  bottom  of  the  deep  sea 
all  over  the  world  have  brought  additional  light  to  this 
question.  No  part  of  the  results  obtained  by  the  Challenger 
Expedition  has  a  profounder  interest  for  geologists  and 
geographers  than  the  proof  which  they  furnish  that  the 
floor  of  the  ocean  basins  has  no  real  analogy  among  the 
sedimentary  formations  that  form  most  of  the  framework  of 
the  land.  We  now  know  by  actual  dredging  and  inspection 
that  the  ordinary  sediment  washed  off  the  land  sinks  to  the 
sea-bottom  before  it  reaches  the  deeper  abysses,  and  that, 
as  a  rule,  only  the  finer  particles  are  carried  more  than  a 
few  score  of  miles  from  the  shore.  Instead  of  such  sandy 
and  pebbly  material  as  we  find  so  largely  among  the 
sedimentary  rocks  of  the  land,  wide  tracts  of  the  sea-bottom 
at  great  depths  are  covered  with  various  kinds  of  organic 
ooze,  composed  sometimes  of  minute  calcareous  foramini- 
fera,  sometimes  of  siliceous  radiolaria  or  diatoms.  Over 
other  areas  vast  sheets  of  clay  extend,  derived  apparently 
from  the  decomposition  of  volcanic  detritus,  of  which  large 
quantities  are  floated  away  from  volcanic  islands,  and  much 
of  which  may  be  produced  by  submarine  volcanoes.  On 
the  tracts  farthest  removed  from  any  land  the  sediment 
seems  to  settle  scarcely  so  rapidly  as  the  dust  that  gathers 
over  the  floor  of  a  deserted  hall.  Mr.  Murray,  of  the 
Challenger  staff,  has  described  how  from  these  remote 
depths  large  numbers  of  shark's  teeth  and  ear-bones  of 
whales  were  dredged  up.  We  cannot  suppose  the  number 
of  sharks  and  whales  to  be  much  greater  in  these  regions 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  281 

than  in  others  where  their  relics  were  found  much  less 
plentifully.  The  explanation  of  the  abundance  of  their 
remains  was  supplied  by  their  varied  condition  of  decay 
and  preservation.  Some  were  comparatively  fresh,  others 
had  greatly  decayed,  and  were  incrusted  with  or  even  com- 
pletely buried  in  a  deposit  of  earthy  manganese.  Yet  the 
same  cast  of  the  dredge  brought  up  these  different  stages  of 
decay  from  the  same  surface  of  the  sea-floor.  While  genera- 
tion after  generation  of  sea-creatures  drops  its  bones  to  the 
bottom,  now  here,  now  there,  so  exceedingly  feeble  is  the 
rate  of  deposit  of  sediment  that  they  lie  uncovered,  mayhap 
for  centuries,  so  that  the  remains  which  sink  to-day  may  lie 
side  by  side  with  the  mouldered  and  incrusted  bones  that 
found  their  way  to  the  bottom  hundreds  of  years  ago. 

Another  striking  indication  of  the  very  slow  rate  at  which 
sedimentation  takes  place  in  these  abysses  has  also  been 
brought  to  notice  by  Mr.  Murray.  In  the  clay  from  the 
bottom  he  found  numerous  minute  spherical  granules  of 
native  iron,  which,  as  he  suggests,  are  almost  certainly  of 
meteoric  origin  —  fragments  of  those  falling  stars  which, 
coming  to  us  from  planetary  space,  burst  into  fragments 
when  they  rush  into  the  denser  layers  of  our  atmosphere. 
In  tracts  where  the  growth  of  silt  upon  the  sea-floor  is 
excessively  tardy,  the  fine  particles,  scattered  by  the  dissipa- 
tion of  these  meteorites,  may  remain  in  appreciable  quan- 
tity. In  this  case,  again,  it  is  not  needful  to  suppose  that 
meteorites  have  disappeared  over  these  ocean  depths  more 
numerously  than  over  other  parts  of  the  earth's  surface. 
The  iron  granules  have  no  doubt  been  as  plentifully 
showered  down  elsewhere,  though  they  cannot  be  so  readily 
detected  in  accumulating  sediment.  I  know  no  recent 
observation  in  physical  geography  more  calculated  to  im- 
press deeply  the  imagination  than  the  testimony  of  this 


282  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 

presumably  meteoric  iron  from  the  most  distant  abysses  of 
the  ocean.  To  be  told  that  mud  gathers  on  the  floor  of 
these  abysses  at  an  extremely  slow  rate  conveys  but  a  vague 
notion  of  the  tardiness  of  the  process.  But  to  learn  that 
it  gathers  so  slowly,  that  the  very  star-dust  which  falls  from 
outer  space  forms  an  appreciable  part  of  it,  brings  home  to 
us,  as  hardly  anything  else  could  do,  the  idea  of  undisturbed 
and  excessively  slow  accumulation. 

From  all  this  evidence  we  may  legitimately  conclude 
that  the  present  land  of  the  globe,  though  formed  in  great 
measure  of  marine  formations,  has  never  lain  under  the 
deep  sea ;  but  that  its  site  must  always  have  been  near 
land.  Even  its  thick  marine  limestones  are  the  deposits  of 
comparatively  shallow  water.  Whether  or  not  any  trace  of 
aboriginal  land  may  now  be  discoverable,  the  characters  of 
the  most  unequivocally  marine  formations  bear  emphatic 
testimony  to  this  proximity  of  a  terrestrial  surface.  The 
present  continental  ridges  have  probably  always  existed  in 
so:iie  form,  and  as  a  corollary  we  may  infer  that  the  pre- 
sent deep  ocean  basins  likewise  date  from  the  remotest 
geological  antiquity. 

§  2.  Crystalline. — While  the  greater  part  of  the  frame- 
work of  the  land  has  been  slowly  built  up  of  sedimentary 
materials,  at  is  abundantly  varied  by  the  occurrence  of 
crystalline  masses,  many  of  which  have  been  injected  in 
a  molten  conditicn  into  rents  underground,  or  have  been 
poured  out  in  lava-streams  at  the  surface. 

Without  entering  at  all  into  geological  detail,  it  will  oe 
enough  for  the  present  purpose  to  recognise  the  characters 
and  origin  of  two  great  types  of  crystalline  material  which 
have  been  called  respectively  the  Eruptive  and  Metamorphic. 

(a)  Eruptive. — As  the  name  denotes,  Eruptive  or 
Igneous  rocks  have  been  ejected  from  the  heated  interioi 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  283 

of  the  earth.  In  a  modern  volcano  lava  ascends  the  central 
funnel,  and  issuing  from  the  lip  of  the  crater  or  from  lateral 
fissures  pours  down  the  slopes  of  the  cone  in  sheets  of 
melted  rock.  The  upper  surface  of  the  lava  column  within 
the  volcano  is  kept  in  constant  ebullition  by  the  rise  of 
steam  through  its  mass.  Every  now  and  then  a  vast  body 
of  steam  rushes  out  with  a  terrific  explosion,  scattering  the 
melted  lava  into  impalpable  dust,  and  filling  the  air  with 
ashes  and  stones,  which  descend  in  showers  upon  the  sur- 
rounding country.  At  the  surface,  therefore,  igneous  rocks 
'appear,  partly  as  masses  of  congealed  lava,  and  partly  as 
more  or  less  consolidated  sheets  of  dust  and  stones.  But 
beneath  the  surface  there  must  be  a  downward  prolongation 
of  the  lava  column,  which  no  doubt  sends  out  veins  into 
rents  of  the  subterranean  rocks.  We  can  suppose  that  the 
general  aspect  of  the  lava  which  consolidates  at  some  depth 
will  differ  from  that  which  solidifies  above  ground. 

As  a  result  of  the  revolutions  which  the  crust  of  the 
earth  has  undergone,  the  roots  of  many  ancient  volcanoes 
have  been  laid  bare.  We  have  been,  as  it  were,  admitted 
into  the  secrets  of  these  subterranean  laboratories  of  nature, 
and  have  learned  much  regarding  the  mechanism  of  volcanic 
action  which  we  could  never  have  discovered  from  any 
modern  volcano.  Thus,  while  on  the  one  hand  we  meet 
with  beds  of  lava  and  consolidated  volcanic  ashes  which 
were  undoubtedly  erupted  at  the  surface  of  the  ground  in 
ancient  periods,  and  were  subsequently  buried  deep  beneath 
sedimentary  accumulations  now  removed,  on  the  other  hand 
we  find  masses  of  igneous  rock  which  certainly  never  came 
near  the  surface,  but  must  have  been  arrested  in  their 
ascent  from  below  while  still  at  a  great  depth,  and  have 
been  laid  bare  to  the  light  after  the  removal  of  the  pile  of 
rock  under  which  they  originally  lay. 


284  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xin 

By  noting  these  and  other  characters,  geologists  have 
learnt  that,  besides  the  regions  of  still  active  volcanoes, 
there  are  few  large  areas  of  the  earth's  surface  where  proofs 
of  former  volcanic  action  or  of  the  protrusion  of  igneous 
rocks  may  not  be  found.  The  crust  of  the  earth,  crumpled 
and  fissured,  has  been,  so  to  speak,  perforated  and  cemented 
together  by  molten  matter  driven  up  from  below. 

(b)  Metamorphic. — The  sedimentary  rocks  of  the  land 
have  undergone  many  changes  since  their  formation,  some 
of  which  are  still  far  from  being  satisfactorily  accounted  for. 
One  of  these  changes  is  expressed  by  the  term  Metamor- 
phism,  and  the  rocks  which  have  undergone  this  process  are 
called  Metamorphic.  It  seems  to  have  taken  place  under 
widely  varied  conditions,  being  sometimes  confined  to  small 
local  tracts,  at  other  times  extending  across  a  large  portion 
of  a  continent.  It  consists  in  the  rearrangement  of  the  com- 
ponent materials  of  rocks,  and  notably  in  their  recrystallisa- 
tion  along  particular  lines  or  laminae.  It  is  usually  associ- 
ated with  evidence  of  great  pressure ;  the  rocks  in  which  it 
occurs  having  been  corrugated  and  crumpled,  not  only  in 
vast  folds,  which  extend  across  whole  mountains,  but  even 
in  such  minute  puckerings  as  can  only  be  observed  with  the 
microscope.  It  shows  itself  more  particularly  among  the 
older  geological  formations,  or  those  which  have  been  once 
deeply  buried  under  more  recent  masses  of  rock,  and  have 
been  exposed  as  the  result  of  the  removal  of  these  overlying 
accumulations.  The  original  characters  of  the  sandstones, 
shales,  grits,  conglomerates,  and  limestones,  of  which,  no 
doubt,  these  metamorphic  masses  once  consisted,  have  been 
more  or  less  effaced,  and  have  given  place  to  that  peculiar 
crystalline  laminated  or  foliated  structure  so  distinctively  a 
result  of  metamorphism. 

An   attentive    examination  of  a   metamorphic   region 


xni]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  285 

shows  that  here  and  there  the  alteration  and  recrystal- 
lisation  have  proceeded  so  far  that  the  rocks  graduate  into 
granites  and  other  so-called  igneous  rocks.  A  series  of 
specimens  may  be  collected  showing  unaltered  or  at  least 
quite  recognisable  sedimentary  rocks  at  the  one  end,  and 
thoroughly  crystalline  igneous  rocks  at  the  other.  Thus 
the  remarkable  fact  is  brought  home  to  the  mind  that 
ordinary  sandstones,  shales,  and  other  sedimentary  materials 
may  in  the  course  of  ages  be  converted  by  underground 
changes  into  crystalline  granite.  The  framework  of  the 
land,  besides  being  knit  together  by  masses  of  igneous  rock 
intruded  from  below,  has  been  strengthened  by  the  welding 
and  crystallisation  of  its  lowest  rocks.  It  is  these  rocks 
which  rise  along  the  central  crests  of  mountain  chains, 
where,  after  the  lapse  of  ages,  they  have  been  uncovered 
and  laid  bare,  to  be  bleached  and  shattered  by  frost  and 
storm. 

ii. — The  Architecture  of  the  Land. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  consider  how  these  materials, 
sedimentary  and  crystalline,  have  been  put  together,  so  as 
to  constitute  the  solid  land  of  the  globe. 

It  requires  but  a  cursory  examination  to  observe  that 
the  sedimentary  masses  have  not  been  huddled  together  at 
random ;  that,  on  the  contrary,  they  have  been  laid  down 
in  sheets  one  over  the  other.  An  arrangement  of  this 
kind  at  once  betokens  a  chronological  sequence.  The 
rocks  cannot  all  have  been  formed  simultaneously.  Those 
at  the  bottom  must  have  been  laid  down  before  those  at 
the  top.  A  truism  of  this  kind  seems  hardly  to  require 
formal  statement.  Yet  it  lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  any 
attempt  to  trace  the  geological  history  of  a  country.  Did 
the  rocks  everywhere  lie  undisturbed  one  above  another  as 


286  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 

they  were  originally  laid  down,  their  clear  order  of  succes- 
sion would  carry  with  it  its  own  evident  interpretation. 
But  such  have  been  the  changes  that  have  arisen,  partly 
from  the  operation  of  forces  from  below,  partly  from  that 
of  forces  acting  on  the  surface,  that  the  true  order  of  a 
series  of  rocks  is  not  always  so  easily  determined.  By 
starting,  however,  from  where  the  succession  is  normal  and 
unbroken,  the  geologist  can  advance  with  confidence  into 
regions  where  it  has  been  completely  interrupted ;  where  the 
rocks  have  been  shattered,  crumpled,  and  even  inverted. 

The  clue  which  guides  us  through  these  labyrinths  is 
a  very  simple  one.  It  is  afforded  by  the  remains  of  once 
living  plants  and  animals  which  have  been  preserved  in  the 
rocky  framework  of  the  land.  Each  well-marked  series  of 
sedimentary  accumulations  contains  its  own  characteristic 
plants,  corals,  crustaceans,  shells,  fishes,  or  other  organic 
remains.  By  these  it  can  be  identified  and  traced  from 
country  to  country  across  a  whole  continent.  When,  there- 
fore, the  true  order  of  superposition  of  the  rocks  has  been 
ascertained  by  observing  how  they  lie  upon  each  other, 
the  succession  of  their  fossils  is  at  the  same  time  fixed. 
In  this  way  the  sedimentary  part  of  the  earth's  crust  has 
been  classified  into  different  formations,  each  characterised 
by  its  distinct  assemblage  of  organic  remains.  In  the  most 
recent  formations,  most  of  these  remains  are  identical  with 
still  living  species  of  plants  and  animals  ;  but  as  we  descend 
in  the  series  and  come  into  progressively  older  deposits  the 
proportion  of  existing  species  diminishes  until  at  last  all 
the  species  of  fossils  are  found  to  be  extinct.  Still  lower 
and  older  rocks  reveal  types  and  assemblages  of  organisms 
which  depart  farther  and  farther  from  the  existing  order. 

By  noting  the  fossil  contents  of  a  formation,  therefore, 
even  in  a  district  where  the  rocks  have  been  so  disturbed 


xrii]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  287 

that  their  sequence  is  otherwise  untraceable,  the  geologist 
can  confidently  assign  their  relative  position  to  each  of  the 
fractured  masses.  He  knows,  for  instance,  using  for  our 
present  purpose  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  to  denote  the 
sequence  of  the  formations,  that  a  mass  of  limestone  con- 
taining fossils  typical  of  the  formation  B  must  be  younger 
than  another  mass  of  rock  containing  the  fossils  of  A.  A 
series  of  strata  full  of  the  fossils  of  H  resting  immediately 
on  others  charged  with  those  of  C,  must  evidently  be 
separated  from  these  by  a  great  gap,  elsewhere  filled  in  by 
the  intervening  formations  D,  E,  F,  G.  Nay,  should  the 
rocks  in  the  upper  part  of  a  mountain  be  replete  with  the 
fossils  proper  to  D,  while  those  in  the  lower  slopes  showed 
only  the  fossils  of  E,  F,  and  G,  it  could  be  demonstrated 
that  the  materials  of  the  mountain  had  actually  been  turned 
upside  down,  for,  as  proved  by  its  organic  remains,  the  oldest 
and  therefore  lowest  formation  had  come  to  lie  at  the  top, 
and  the  youngest,  and  therefore  highest,  at  the  bottom. 

Of  absolute  chronology  in  such  questions  science  can 
as  yet  give  no  measure.  How  many  millions  of  years  each 
formation  may  have  required  for  its  production,  and  how 
far  back  in  time  may  be  the  era  of  any  given  group  of 
fossils,  are  problems  to  which  no  answer,  other  than  a  mere 
guess,  can  be  returned.  But  this  is  a  matter  of  far  less 
moment  than  the  relative  chronology,  which  can  usually  be 
accurately  fixed  for  each  country,  and  on  which  all  attempts 
to  trace  back  the  history  of  the  land  must  be  based. 

While,  then,  it  is  true  that  most  of  the  materials  of  the 
solid  land  have  been  laid  down  at  successive  periods  under 
the  sea,  and  that  the  relative  dates  of  their  deposition  can  be 
determined,  it  is  no  less  certain  that  the  formation  of  these 
materials  has  not  proceeded  uninterruptedly,  and  that  they 
have  not  finally  been  raised  into  land  by  a  single  movement, 


288  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 

The  mere  fact  that  they  are  of  marine  origin  shows,  of 
course,  that  the  land  owes  its  origin  to  some  kind  of  terres- 
trial disturbance.  But  when  the  sedimentary  formations 
are  examined  in  detail,  they  present  a  most  wonderful 
chronicle  of  long-continued,  oft-repeated,  and  exceedingly 
complex  movements  of  the  crust  of  the  globe.  They  show 
that  the  history  of  every  country  has  been  long  and  event- 
ful ;  that,  in  short,  hardly  any  portion  of  the  land  has 
reached  its  present  condition,  save  after  a  protracted  series 
of  geological  revolutions. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  and  not  the  least  striking 
features  in  the  architecture  of  the  land  is  the  frequency 
with  which  the  rocks,  though  originally  horizontal,  or 
approximately  so,  have  been  tilted  up  at  various  angles,  or 
even  placed  on  end.  At  first  it  might  be  supposed  that 
these  disturbed  positions  have  been  assumed  at  random, 
according  to  the  capricious  operations  of  subterranean 
forces.  They  seem  to  follow  no  order,  and  to  defy  any 
attempt  to  reduce  them  to  system.  Yet  a  closer  scrutiny 
serves  to  establish  a  real  connection  among  them.  They 
are  found,  for  the  most  part,  to  belong  to  great,  though 
fractured,  curves,  into  which  the  crust  of  the  earth  has 
been  folded.  In  low  countries  far  removed  from  any 
great  mountain  range,  the  rocks  often  present  scarcely  a 
trace  of  disturbance,  or  if  they  have  been  affected,  it  is 
chiefly  by  having  been  thrown  into  gentle  undulations.  As 
we  approach  the  higher  grounds,  however,  they  manifest 
increasing  signs  of  commotion.  Their  undulations  become 
more  frequent  and  steeper,  until,  entering  within  the 
mountain  region,  we  find  the  rocks  curved,  crumpled, 
fractured,  inverted,  tossed  over  each  other  into  yawning 
gulf  and  towering  crest,  Jike  billows  arrested  at  the  height 
of  a  furious  storm. 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  289 

Yet  even  in  the  midst  of  such  apparent  chaos  it  is 
not  impossible  to  trace  the  fundamental  law  and  order  by 
which  it  is  underlaid.  The  prime  fact  to  be  noted  is  the 
universal  plication  and  crumpling  of  rocks  which  were  at 
first  nearly  horizontal.  From  the  gentle  undulations  of  the 
strata  beneath  the  plains  to  their  violent  contortion  and 
inversion  among  the  mountains,  there  is  that  insensible 
gradation  which  connects  the  whole  of  these  disturbances  as 
parts  of  one  common  process.  They  cannot  be  accounted 
for  by  any  mere  local  movements,  though  such  movements  no 
doubt  took  place  abundantly.  The  existence  of  a  mountain 
chain  is  not  to  be  explained  by  a  special  upheaval  or  series 
of  upheavals  caused  by  an  expansive  force  acting  from 
below.  Manifestly  the  elevation  is  only  one  phase  of  a  vast 
terrestrial  movement  which  has  extended  over  whole  conti- 
nents, and  has  affected  plains  as  well  as  high  grounds. 

The  only  cause  which,  so  far  as  our  present  knowledge 
goes,  could  have  produced  such  widespread  changes  is  a 
general  contraction  of  the  earth's  mass.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  at  one  time  our  planet  existed  in  a  gaseous, 
then  in  a  liquid  condition.  Since  these  early  periods  it 
has  continued  to  lose  heat,  and  consequently  to  contract 
and  to  grow  more  and  more  solid,  until,  as  the  physicists 
insist,  it  has  now  become  practically  as  rigid  as  a  globe  of 
glass  or  of  steel.  But  in  the  course  of  the  contraction, 
after  the  solid  external  crust  was  formed,  the  inner  hot 
nucleus  has  lost  heat  more  rapidly  than  the  crust,  and  has 
tended  to  shrink  inward  from  it.  As  a  consequence  of  this 
internal  movement,  the  outer  solid  shell  has  sunk  down 
upon  the  retreating  nucleus.  In  so  doing,  it  has  of  course 
had  to  accommodate  itself  to  a  diminished  area,  and  this 
it  could  only  accomplish  by  undergoing  plication  and 
fracture.  Though  the  analogy  is  not  a  very  exact  one,  we 

U 


290  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xin 

may  liken  our  globe  to  a  shrivelled  apple.  The  skin  of  the 
apple  does  not  contract  equally.  As  the  internal  moisture 
passes  off,  and  the  bulk  of  the  fruit  is  reduced,  the  once 
smooth  exterior  becomes  here  and  there  corrugated  and 
dimpled. 

Without  entering  into  this  difficult  problem  in  physical 
geology,  it  may  suffice  if  we  carry  with  us  the  idea  that 
our  globe  must  once  have  had  a  greater  diameter  than  it 
now  possesses,  and  that  the  crumpling  of  its  outer  layers, 
whether  due  to  mere  contraction  or,  as  has  been  suggested, 
to  the  escape  also  of  subterranean  vapours,  affords  evidence 
of  this  diminution.  A  little  reflection  suffices  to  show  us 
that,  even  without  any  knowledge  of  the  actual  history  of 
the  contraction,  we  might  anticipate  that  the  effects  would 
neither  be  continuous  nor  everywhere  uniform.  The  solid 
crust  would  not,  we  may  be  sure,  subside  as  fast  as  the 
mass  inside.  It  would,  for  a  time  at  least,  cohere  and  sup- 
port itself,  until  at  last,  gravitation  proving  too  much  for  its 
strength,  it  would  sink  down.  And  the  areas  and  amount 
of  descent  would  be  greatly  regulated  by  the  varying  thick- 
ness and  structure  of  the  crust.  Subsidence  would  not 
take  place  everywhere ;  for,  as  a  consequence  of  the  nar- 
rower space  into  which  the  crust  sank,  some  regions  would 
necessarily  be  pushed  up.  These  conditions  appear  to 
have  been  fulfilled  in  the  past  history  of  the  earth.  There 
is  evidence  that  the  terrestrial  disturbance  has  been  re- 
newed again  and  again,  after  long  pauses,  and  that,  while 
the  ocean  basins  have  on  the  whole  been  the  great  areas 
of  depression,  the  continents  have  been  the  lines  of  uprise 
or  relief,  where  the  rocks  were  crumpled  and  pushed  out 
of  the  way.  Paradoxical,  therefore,  as  the  statement  may 
appear,  it  is  nevertheless  strictly  true,  that  the  solid  land, 
considered  with  reference  to  the  earth's  surface  as  a 


xni]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  291 

whole,  is  the  consequence  of  subsidence  rather  than  of 
upheaval. 

Grasping,  then,  this  conception  of  the  real  character  of 
the  movements  to  which  the  earth  owes  its  present  surface 
configuration,  we  are  furnished  with  fresh  light  for  exploring 
the  ancient  history  and  growth  of  the  solid  land.  The 
great,  continental  ridges  seem  to  lie  nearly  on  the  site  of 
the  earliest  lines  of  relief  from  the  strain  of  contraction. 
They  were  forced  up  between  the  subsiding  oceanic  basins 
at  a  very  early  period  of  geological  history.  In  each  suc- 
ceeding epoch  of  movement  they  were  naturally  used  over 
again,  and  received  an  additional  push  upward.  Hence 
we  see  the  meaning  of  the  evidence  supplied  by  the  sedi- 
mentary rocks  as  to  shallow  seas  and  proximity  of  land. 
These  rocks  could  not  have  been  otherwise  produced. 
They  were  derived  from  the  waste  of  the  land,  and  were 
deposited  near  the  land.  For  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  every  mass  of  land  as  soon  as  it  appeared  above  water 
was  at  once  attacked  by  the  ceaseless  erosion  of  moving 
water  and  atmospheric  influences,  and  immediately  began 
to  furnish  materials  for  the  construction  of  future  lands  to 
be  afterwards  raised  out  of  the  sea. 

Each  great  period  of  contraction  elevated  anew  the 
much-worn  land,  and  at  the  same  time  brought  the  con- 
solidated marine  sediments  above  water  as  parts  of  a  new 
terrestrial  surface.  Again  a  long  interval  would  ensue, 
marked  perhaps  by  a  slow  subsidence  both  of  the  land  and 
sea-bottom.  Meanwhile  the  surface  of  the  land  was  chan- 
nelled and  lowered,  and  its  detritus  was  spread  over  the 
sea-floor,  until  another  era  of  disturbance  raised  it  once 
more  with  a  portion  of  the  surrounding  ocean-bed.  These 
successive  upward  and  downward  movements  explain  why 
the  sedimentary  formations  do  not  occur  as  a  continuous 


292  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xin 

series,  but  often  lie  each  upon  the  upturned  and  worn  edges 
of  its  predecessors. 

Returning  now  to  the  chronological  sequence  indicated 
by  the  organic  remains  preserved  among  the  sedimentary 
rocks,  we  see  how  it  may  be  possible  to  determine  the 
relative  order  of  the  successive  upheavals  of  a  continent. 
If,  for  example,  a  group  of  rocks,  which  as  before  may 
be  called  A,  were  found  to  have  been  upturned  and 
covered  over  by  undisturbed  beds  C,  the  disturbance  could 
be  affirmed  to  have  occurred  at  some  part  of  the  epoch 
represented  elsewhere  by  the  missing  series  B.  If,  again, 
the  group  C  were  observed  to  have  been  subsequently  tilted, 
and  to  pass  under  gently-inclined  or  horizontal  strata  E,  a 
second  period  of  disturbance  would  be  proved  to  have 
occurred  between  the  time  of  C  and  E. 

I  have  referred  to  the  unceasing  destruction  of  its 
surface  which  the  land  undergoes  from  the  time  when  it 
emerges  out  of  the  sea.  As  a  rule,  our  conceptions  of  the 
rate  of  this  degradation  are  exceedingly  vague.  Yet  they 
may  easily  be  made  more  definite  by  a  consideration  of 
present  changes  on  the  surface  of  the  land.  Every  river 
carries  yearly  to  the  sea  an  immense  amount  of  sand  and 
mud.  But  this  amount  is  capable  of  measurement.  It 
represents,  of  course,  the  extent  to  which  the  general  level 
of  the  surface  of  the  river's  drainage  basin  is  annually 
lowered.  According  to  such  measurements  and  computa- 
tions as  have  been  already  made,  it  appears  that  somewhere 
about  -g-oVo  °f  a  f°ot  'ls  every  year  removed  from  the  sur- 
face of  its  drainage  ba.in  by  a  large  river.  This  seems  a 
small  fraction,  yet  by  the  power  of  mere  addition  it  soon 
mounts  up  to  a  large  total.  Taking  the  mean  level  of 
Europe  to  be  600  feet,  its  surface,  if  everywhere  worn  away 
at  what  seems  to  be  the  present  mean  normal  rate,  would 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  293 

be  entirely  reduced  to  the  sea-level  in  little  more  than  three 
and  a  half  millions  of  years. 

But  of  course  the  waste  is  not  uniform  over  the  whole 
surface.  It  is  greatest  on  the  slopes  and  valleys,  least  on 
the  more  level  grounds.  A  few  years  ago,  in  making  some 
estimates  of  the  ratios  between  the  rates  of  waste  on  these 
areas,  I  assumed  that  the  tracts  of  more  rapid  erosion 
occupy  only  one-ninth  of  the  whole  surface  affected,  and 
that  in  these  the  rate  of  destruction  is  nine  times  greater 
than  on  the  more  level  spaces.  Taking  these  proportions, 
and  granting  that  -gVoo"  of  a  foot  is  the  actual  ascertained 
amount  of  loss  from  the  whole  surface,  we  learn  by  a  simple 
arithmetical  process  that  ^\  of  an  inch  is  carried  away  from 
the  plains  and  tablelands  in  seventy-five  years,  while  the 
same  amount  is  worn  out  of  the  valleys  in  eight  and  a  half 
years.  One  foot  must  be  removed  from  the  former  in 
10,800  years,  and  from  the  latter  in  1200  years.  Hence, 
at  the  present  rate  of  erosion,  a  valley  1000  feet  deep  may 
be  excavated  in  1,200,000  years — by  no  means  a  very  long 
period  in  the  conception  of  most  geologists. 

I  do  not  offer  these  figures  as  more  than  tentative 
results.  They  are  based,  however,  not  on  mere  guesses, 
but  on  data  which,  though  they  may  be  corrected  by  sub- 
sequent inquiry,  are  the  best  at  present  available,  and  are 
probably  not  far  from  the  truth.  They  are  of  value  in 
enabling  us  more  vividly  to  realise  how  the  prodigious 
waste  of  the  land,  proved  by  the  existence  of  such  enormous 
masses  of  sedimentary  rock,  went  quietly  on  age  after  age, 
until  results  were  achieved  which  seem  at  first  scarcely 
possible  to  so  slow  and  gentle  an  agency. 

It  is  during  this  quiet  process  of  decay  and  removal 
that  all  the  distinctive  minor  features  of  the  land  are 
wrought  out.  When  first  elevated  from  the  sea,  the  land 


294  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 

doubtless  presents  on  the  whole  a  comparatively  featureless 
surface.  It  may  be  likened  to  a  block  of  marble  raised 
out  of  the  quarry  —  rough  and  rude  in  outline,  massive  in 
solidity  and  strength,  but  giving  no  indication  of  the  grace 
into  which  it  will  grow  under  the  hand  of  the  sculptor. 
What  art  effects  upon  the  marble  block,  nature  accom- 
plishes upon  the  surface  of  the  land.  Her  tools  are  many 
and  varied — air,  frost,  rain,  springs,  torrents,  rivers,  ava- 
lanches, glaciers,  and  the  sea  —  each  producing  its  own 
characteristic  traces  in  the  sculpture.  With  these  imple- 
ments, out  of  the  huge  bulk  of  the  land  she  cuts  the 
valleys  and  ravines,  scoops  the  lake -basins,  hews  with 
bold  hand  the  colossal  outlines  of  the  mountains,  carves 
out  peak  and  crag,  crest  and  cliff,  chisels  the  courses  of 
the  torrents,  splinters  the  sides  of  the  precipices,  spreads 
out  the  alluvium  of  the  rivers,  and  piles  up  the  moraines 
of  the  glaciers.  Patiently  and  unceasingly  has  this  great 
earth-sculptor  sat  at  her  task  since  the  land  first  rose  above 
the  sea,  washing  down  into  the  ocean  the  debris  of  her 
labour,  to  form  the  materials  for  the  framework  of  future 
countries  ;  and  there  will  she  remain  at  work  so  long  as 
mountains  stand,  and  rain  falls,  and  rivers  flow. 

II.  THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  EUROPEAN  CONTINENT. 

Passing  now  from  the  general  principles  with  which  we 
have  hitherto  been  dealing,  we  may  seek  an  illustration  of 
their  application  to  the  actual  history  of  a  large  mass  of 
land.  For  this  purpose  let  me  ask  your  attention  to  some 
of  the  more  salient  features  in  the  gradual  growth  of 
Europe.  This  continent  has  not  the  simplicity  of  struc- 
ture elsewhere  recognisable ;  but  without  entering  into 
detail  or  following  a  continuous  sequence  of  events,  our 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  295 

present  purpose  will  be  served  by  a  few  broad  outlines  of 
the  condition  of  the  European  area  at  successive  geolo- 
gical periods. 

It  is  the  fate  of  continents,  no  less  than  of  the  human 
communities  that  inhabit  them,  to  have  their  first  origin 
shrouded  in  obscurity.  When  the  curtain  of  darkness 
begins  to  rise  from  our  primeval  Europe,  it  reveals  to  us 
a  rcene  marvellously  unlike  that  of  the  existing  continent. 
The  land  then  lay  chiefly  to  the  north  and  north-west, 
probably  extending  as  far  as  the  edge  of  the  great  sub- 
marine plateau  by  which  the  European  ridge  is  prolonged 
under  the  Atlantic  for  230  miles  to  the  west  of  Ireland. 
Worn  fragments  of  that  land  exist  in  Finland,  Scandinavia, 
and  the  north-west  of  Scotland,  and  there  are  traces  of 
what  seem  to  have  been  some  detached  islands  in  Central 
Europe,  notably  in  Bohemia  and  Bavaria.  Its  original 
height  and  extent  can  of  course  never  be  known;  but 
some  idea  of  them  may  be  formed  by  considering  the  bulk 
of  solid  rock  which  was  formed  out  of  the  waste  of  that 
land.  I  find  that  if  we  take  merely  one  portion  of  the 
detritus  washed  from  its  surface  and  laid  down  in  the  sea 
— viz.  that  which  is  comprised  in  what  is  termed  the  Silu- 
rian system — and  if  we  assume  that  it  spreads  over  60,000 
square  miles  of  Britain  with  an  average  thickness  of  16,000 
feet,  or  3  miles,  which  is  probably  under  the  truth,  then 
we  obtain  the  enormous  mass  of  180,000  cubic  miles. 
The  magnitude  of  this  pile  of  material  may  be  better 
realised  if  we  reflect  that  it  would  form  a  mountain  ridge 
three  times  as  long  as  the  Alps,  or  from  the  North  Cape  to 
Marseilles  (1800),  with  a  breadth  of  more  than  33  miles, 
and  an  average  height  of  16,000  feet — that  is,  higher  than 
the  summit  of  Mont  Blanc.  All  this  vast  pile  of  sedi- 
mentary rock  was  worn  from  the  slopes  and  shores  of  the 


296  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  Am 

primeval  northern  land.  Yet  it  represents  but  a  small 
fraction  of  the  material  so  removed,  for  the  sea  of  that 
ancient  time  spread  over  nearly  the  whole  of  Europe 
eastwards  into  Asia,  and  everywhere  received  a  tribute  of 
sand  and  mud  from  the  adjoining  shores. 

There  is  perhaps  no  mass  of  rock  so  striking  in  its 
general  aspect  as  that  of  which  this  northern  embryo  of 
Europe  consisted.  It  lacks  the  variety  of  composition, 
structure,  colour,  and  form,  which  distinguishes  rocks  of 
more  modern  growth ;  but  in  dignity  of  massive  strength  it 
stands  altogether  unrivalled.  From  the  headlands  of  the 
Hebrides  to  the  far  fjords  of  Arctic  Norway  it  rises  up 
grim  and  defiant  of  the  elements.  Its  veins  of  quartz, 
felspar,  and  hornblende  project  from  every  boss  and  crag 
like  the  twisted  and  knotted  sinews  of  a  magnificent  torso. 
Well  does  the  old  gneiss  of  the  north  deserve  to  have  been 
made  the  foundation-stone  of  a  continent. 

What  was  the  character  of  the  vegetation  that  clothed 
this  earliest  prototype  of  Europe  is  a  question  to  which  at 
present  no  definite  answer  is  possible.  We  know,  however, 
that  the  shallow  sea  which  spread  from  the  Atlantic  south- 
ward and  eastward  over  most  of  Europe  was  tenanted  by 
an  abundant  and  characteristic  series  of  invertebrate  animals 
— trilobites,  graptolites,  cystideans,  brachiopods,  and  cepha- 
lopods,  strangely  unlike,  on  the  whole,  to  anything  living  in 
our  waters  now,  but  which  then  migrated  freely  along  the 
shores  of  the  Arctic  land  between  what  are  now  America 
and  Europe. 

The  floor  of  this  shallow  sea  continued  to  sink,  until 
over  Britain,  at  least,  it  had  gone  down  several  miles.  Yet 
the  water  remained  shallow  because  the  amount  of  sediment 
constantly  poured  Into  it  from  the  north-west  filled  it  up 
about  as  fast  as  the  bottom  subsided.  This  slow  subter 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  297 

ranean  movement  was  varied  by  uprisings  here  and  there, 
and  notably  by  the  outburst  at  successive  periods  of  a  great 
group  of  active  submarine  volcanoes  over  Wales,  the  Lake 
district,  and  the  south  of  Ireland  ;  but  at  the  close  of  the 
Silurian  period  a  vast  series  of  disturbances  took  place,  as 
the  consequence  of  which  the  first  rough  outlines  of  the 
European  continent  were  blocked  out.  The  floor  of  the 
sea  was  raised  into  long  ridges  of  land,  among  which  were 
some  on  the  site  of  the  Alps,  the  Spanish  peninsula,  and 
the  hills  of  the  west  and  north  of  Britain.  The  thick  mass 
of  marine  sediment  was  crumpled  up,  and  here  and  there 
even  converted  into  hard  crystalline  rock.  Large  enclosed 
basins,  gradually  cut  off  from  the  sea,  like  the  modern 
Caspian  and  Sea  of  Aral,  extended  from  beyond  the  west 
of  Ireland  across  to  Scandinavia  and  even  into  the  west  of 
Russia.  These  lakes  abounded  in  bone-covered  fishes  of 
strange  and  now  long-extinct  types,  while  the  land  around 
was  clothed  with  a  club-moss  and  reed-like  vegetation— 
Psilophyton,  Sigillaria^  Calamite,  etc. — the  oldest  terrestrial 
flora  of  which  any  abundant  records  have  yet  been  found 
in  Europe.  The  sea,  clotted  with  numerous  islands,  appears 
to  have  covered  most  of  the  heart  of  the  continent. 

A  curious  fact  deserves  to  be  noticed  here.  During 
the  convulsions  by  which  the  sediments  of  the  Silurian  sea- 
floor-  were  crumpled  up,  crystallised,  and  elevated  into  land, 
the  area  of  Russia  seems  to  have  remained  nearly  unaffected. 
Not  only  so,  but  the  same  immunity  from  violent  disturb 
ance  has  prevailed  over  that  vast  territory  during  all 
subsequent  geological  periods.  The  Ural  Mountains  on 
the  east  have  again  and  again  served  as  a  line  of  relief,  and 
have  been  from  time  to  time  ridged  up  anew.  The  German 
domains  on  the  west  have  likewise  suffered  extreme  con- 
vulsion. But  the  wide  intervening  plateau  of  Russia  has 


298  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xin 

apparently  always  maintained  its  flatness  either  as  sea- 
bottom  or  as  terrestrial  plains.  As  I  have  already 
remarked,  there  has  been  a  remarkable  persistence  alike 
in  exposure  to  and  immunity  from  terrestrial  disturbance. 
Areas  that  lay  along  lines  of  weakness  have  suffered  re- 
peatedly in  successive  geological  revolutions,  while  tracts 
outside  of  these  regions  of  convulsion  have  simply  moved 
gently  up  or  down  without  material  plication  or  fracture. 

By  the  time  of  the  coal  growths,  the  aspect  of  the 
European  area  had  still  further  changed.  It  then  consisted 
of  a  series  of  low  ridges  or  islands  in  the  midst  of  a  shallow 
sea  or  of  wide  salt-water  lagoons.  A  group  of  islands 
occupied  the  site  of  some  of  the  existing  high  grounds  of 
Britain.  A  long,  irregular  ridge  ran  across  what  is  now 
France  from  Brittany  to  the  Mediterranean.  The  Spanish 
peninsula  stood  as  a  detached  island.  The  future  Alps 
rose  as  a  long,  low  ridge,  to  the  north  of  the  eastern  edge 
of  which  lay  another  insular  space,  where  now  we  find 
the  high  grounds  of  Bavaria  and  Bohemia.  The  shallow 
waters  that  wound  among  these  scattered  patches  of  land 
were  gradually  silted  up.  Many  of  them  became  marshes, 
crowded  with  a  most  luxuriant  cryptogamic  vegetation, 
specially  of  lycopods  and  ferns,  while  the  dry  grounds 
waved  green  with  coniferous  trees.  By  a  slow  intermittent 
subsidence,  islet  after  islet  sank  beneath  the  verdant 
swamps.  Each  fresh  depression  submerged  the  rank 
jungles  and  buried  them  under  sand  and  mud,  where  they 
were  eventually  compressed  into  coal.  To  this  united  co- 
operation of  dense  vegetable  growth,  accumulation  of  sedi- 
ment, and  slow  subterranean  movement,  Europe  owes  her 
coal-fields. 

All  this  time  the-  chief  area  of  high  ground  in  Europe 
appears  still  to  have  lain  to  the  north  and  north-west.  The 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  299 

old  guarled  gneiss  of  that  region,  though  constantly  worn 
down  and  furnishing  materials  towards  each  new  formation, 
yet  rose  up  as  land.  It  no  doubt  received  successive 
elevations  during  the  periods  of  disturbance,  which  more 
or  less  compensated  for  the  constant  loss  from  its  surface. 

The  next  scene  we  may  contemplate  brings  before  us 
a  series  of  salt  lakes,  covering  the  centre  of  the  continent 
from  the  north  of  Ireland  to  the  heart  of  Poland.  These 
basins  were  formed  by  the  gradual  cutting  off  of  portions 
of  the  sea  which  had  spread  over  the  region.  Their 
waters  were  red  and  bitter,  and  singularly  unfavourable  to 
life.  On  the  low  intervening  ridges  a  coniferous  and 
cycadaceous  vegetation  grew,  sometimes  in  quantity  suffi- 
cient to  supply  materials  for  the  formation  of  coal-seams. 
The  largest  of  these  salt  lakes  stretched  from  the  edge  of 
the  old  plateau  of  Central  France  along  the  base  of  the 
Alpine  ridge  to  the  high  grounds  of  Bohemia,  and  included 
the  basin  of  the  Rhine  from  Bale  down  to  the  ridge  beyond 
Mayence,  which  has  been  subsequently  cut  through  by  the 
river  into  the  picturesque  gorge  between  Bingen  and  the 
Siebengebirge.  This  lake  was  filled  up  with  red  sand  and 
mud,  limestone,  and  beds  of  rock  salt.  Where  the  eastern 
Alps  now  rise  the  opener  waters  were  the  scene  of  a  long- 
continued  growth  of  dolomite,  out  of  which  in  later  ages 
the  famous  dolomite  mountains  of  the  Tyrol  were  carved. 

These  salt  lakes  of  the  Triassic  period  seem  to  have 
been  everywhere  quietly  effaced  by  a  widespread  depression, 
which  allowed  the  water  of  the  main  ocean  once  more  to 
overspread  the  greater  part  of  Europe.  This  slow  subsid- 
ence went  on  so  long  as  to  admit  of  the  accumulation  of 
masses  of  limestone,  shale,  and  sandstone,  several  thousand 
feet  in  thickness,  and  probably  to  bring  most  of  the  insular 
tracts  of  Central  Europe  under  water.  To  this  period, 


300  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 

termed  by  geologists  the  Jurassic,  we  can  trace  back  the 
origin  of  a  large  part  of  the  rock  now  forming  the  surface  • 
of  the  continent,  from  the  low  plains  of  Central  England 
up  to  the  crests  of  the  northern  Alps,  while  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean basin,  rocks  of  the  same  age  cover  a  large  area  of 
the  plateau  of  Spain,  and  form  the  central  mass  of  the 
chain  of  the  Apennines.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that 
the  north-west  of  Britain  continued  still  to  rise  as  land  in 
spite  of  all  the  geographical  changes  which  had  taken  place 
to  the  south  and  east.  We  can  trace  even  yet  the  shores  of 
the  Jurassic  sea  along  the  skirts  of  the  mountains  of  Skye 
and  Ross-shire. 

The  next  long  era,  termed  the  Cretaceous,  was  likewise 
more  remarkable  for  slow  accumulation  of  rock  under  the 
sea  than  for  the  formation  of  new  land.  During  that  time 
the  Atlantic  sent  its  waters  across  the  whole  of  Europe  and 
into  Asia.  But  they  were  probably  nowhere  more  than  a 
few  hundred  feet  deep  over  the  site  of  our  continent,  even 
at  their  deepest  part  Upon  their  bottom  there  gathered 
a  vast  mass  of  calcareous  mud,  composed  in  great  part 
of  foraminifera,  corals,  echinoderms,  and  molluscs.  Our 
English  chalk  which  ranges  across  the  north  of  France, 
Belgium,  Denmark,  and  the  North  of  Germany,  represents 
a  portion  of  the  deposits  of  that  sea -floor,  probably  accu- 
mulated in  a  northern,  somewhat  isolated  basin,  while  the 
massive  hippurite  limestone  of  Southern  Europe  represents 
the  deposits  of  the  opener  ocean.  Some  of  the  island 
spaces  which  had  remained  for  a  vast  period  above  water, 
and  had  by  their  degradation  supplied  materials  for  the 
sediment  of  successive  geological  formations,  now  went 
down  beneath  the  .Cretaceous  sea.  The  ancient  high- 
grounds  of  Bohemia,  the  Alps,  the  Pyrenees,  and  the 
Spanish  tableland  were  either  entirely  submerged,  or  at 


xni]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  301 

least  had  their  area  very  considerably  reduced.  The 
submergence  likewise  affected  the  north-west  of  Britain ; 
the  western  highlands  of  Scotland  lay  more  than  1000  feet 
below  their  present  level. 

When  we  turn  to  the  succeeding  geological  period,  that 
of  the  Eocene,  the  proofs  of  widespread  submergence  are 
still  more  striking.  A  large  part  of  the  Old  World  seems 
to  have  sunk  down  ;  for  we  find  that  one  wide  sea  extended 
across  the  whole  of  Central  Europe  and  Asia.  It  was  at 
the  close  of  this  period  of  extreme  depression  that  those 
subterranean  movements  began  to  which  the  present  con- 
figuration of  Europe  is  mainly  due.  The  Pyrenees,  Alps, 
Apennines,  Carpathians,  the  Caucasus,  and  the  heights  of 
Asia  Minor  mark,  as  it  were,  the  crests  of  the  vast  earth- 
waves  into  which  the  solid  framework  of  Europe  was  then 
thrown.  So  enormous  was  the  contortion  that,  as  may  be 
seen  along  the  northern  Alps,  the  rocks  for  thousands  of 
feet  were  completely  inverted,  this  inversion  being  accom- 
panied by  the  most  colossal  folding  and  twisting.  The 
massive  sedimentary  formations  were  crumpled  up,  and 
doubled  over  each  other,  as  we  might  fold  a  pile  of  cloth. 
In  the  midst  of  these  commotions  the  west  of  Europe 
remained  undisturbed.  It  is  strange  to  reflect  that  the  soft 
clays  and  sands  under  London  are  as  old  as  some  of  the 
hardened  rocks  which  have  been  upheaved  into  such  pic- 
turesque peaks  along  the  northern  flanks  of  the  Alps. 

After  the  completion  of  these  vast  terrestrial  disturb- 
ances, the  outlines  of  Europe  began  distinctly  to  shape 
themselves  into  their  present  form.  The  Alps  rose  as  a 
great  mountain  range,  flanked  on  the  north  by  a  vast  lake 
which  covered  all  the  present  lowlands  of  Switzerland,  and 
stretched  northward  across  a  part  of  the  Jura  Mountains, 
and  eastward  into  Germany.  The  size  of  this  fresh-water 


302  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xin 

basin  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  one  portion  only 
of  the  sand  and  gravel  that  accumulated  in  it  even  now 
measures  6000  feet  in  thickness.  The  surrounding  land 
was  densely  clothed  with  a  vegetation  indicative  of  a  much 
warmer  climate  than  Europe  now  can  boast.  Palms  of 
American  types,  as  well  as  date  palms,  huge  Californian 
pines  (Sequoia),  laurels,  cypresses,  and  evergreen  oaks,  with 
many  other  evergreen  trees,  gave  a  distinctive  character  to 
the  vegetation.  Among  the  trees  too  were  planes,  poplars, 
maples,  willows,  oaks,  and  other  ancestors  of  our  living 
woods  and  forests ;  numerous  ferns  grew  in  the  under- 
wood, while  clematis  and  vine  wound  themselves  among  the 
branches.  The  waters  were  haunted  by  huge  pachyderms, 
such  as  the  dinotherium  and  hippopotamus ;  while  the 
rhinoceros  and  mastodon  roamed  through  the  woodlands. 

A  marked  feature  of  this  period  in  Europe  was  the 
abundance  and  activity  of  its  volcanoes.  In  Hungary, 
Rhineland,  and  Central  France,  numerous  vents  opened 
and  poured  out  their  streams  of  lava  and  showers  of  ashes. 
From  the  south  of  Antrim,  also,  through  the  west  coast  of 
Scotland,  the  Faroe  Islands,  and  Iceland,  even  far  into 
Arctic  Greenland,  a  vast  series  of  fissure-eruptions  poured 
forth  successive  floods  of  basalt,  fragments  of  which  now 
form  the  extensive  volcanic  plateaux  of  these  regions. 

The  mild  climate  indicated  by  the  vegetation  in  the 
deposits  of  the  Swiss  lake  prevailed  even  into  Polar  lati- 
tudes, for  the  remains  of  numerous  evergreen  shrubs,  oaks, 
maples,  walnuts,  hazels,  and  many  other  trees  have  been 
found  in  the  far  north  of  Greenland,  and  even  within  8°  15' 
of  the  pole.  The  sea  still  occupied  much  of  the  lowlands 
of  Europe.  Thus  it  ran  as  a  strait  between  the  Bay  of  Biscay 
and  the  Mediterranean,  cutting  off  the  Pyrenees  and  Spain 
from  the  rest  of  the  continent.  It  swept  round  the  north  of 


xni]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  303 

France,  covering  the  rich  fields  of  Touraine  and  the  wide 
flats  of  the  Netherlands.  It  rolled  far  up  the  plains  of  the 
Danube,  and  stretched  thence  eastward  across  the  south 
of  Russia  into  Asia. 

By  this  time  some  of  the  species  of  shells  which  still 
people  the  European  seas  had  appeared.  So  long  have 
they  been  natives  of  our  area  that  they  have  witnessed  the 
rise  of  a  great  part  of  the  continent.  Some  of  the  most 
stupendous  changes  which  they  have  seen  have  taken  place 
in  the  basin  of  the  Mediterranean,  where,  at  a  comparatively 
recent  geological  period,  parts  of  the  sea-floor  were  upheaved 
to  a  height  of  3000  feet.  It  was  then  that  the  breadth  of 
the  Italian  peninsula  was  increased  by  the  belt  of  lower 
hills  that  flanks  the  range  of  the  Apennines.  Then,  too, 
Vesuvius  and  Etna  began  their  eruptions.  Among  these 
later  geographical  events  also  we  must  place  the  gradual 
isolation  of  the  Sea  of  Aral,  the  Caspian,  and  the  Black  Sea 
from  the  rest  of  the  ocean,  which  is  believed  to  have  once 
spread  from  the  Arctic  regions  down  the  west  of  Asia,  along 
the  base  of  the  Ural  Mountains  into  the  south-east  of 
Europe. 

The  last  scene  in  this  long  history  is  one  of  the  most 
unexpected  of  all.  Europe,  having  nearly  its  present 
height  and  outlines,  is  found  swathed  deep  in  snow  and 
ice.  Scandinavia  and  Finland  are  one  vast  sheet  of  ice, 
that  creeps  down  from  the  watershed  into  the  Atlantic  on 
the  one  side,  and  into  the  basin  of  the  Baltic  on  the  other. 
All  the  high  grounds  of  Britain  are  similarly  buried.  The 
bed  of  the  North  Sea  as  well  as  of  the  Baltic  is  in  great 
measure  choked  with  ice.  The  Alps,  the  Pyrenees,  the 
Carpathians,  and  the  Caucasus  send  down  vast  glaciers 
into  the  plains  at  their  base.  Northern  plants  find  their 
way  south  even  to  the  Pyrenees,  while  the  reindeer,  musk- 


304  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 

ox,  lemming,  and  their  Arctic  companions,  roam  far  and 
wide  over  France. 

As  a  result  of  the  prolonged  passage  of  solid  masses  of 
ice  over  them,  the  rocks  on  the  surface  of  the  continent, 
when  once  more  laid  bare  to  the  sun,  present  a  worn,  flow- 
ing outline.  They  have  been  hollowed  into  basins,  ground 
smooth,  and  polished.  Long  mounds  and  wide  sheets  of 
clay,  gravel,  and  sand  have  been  left  over  the  low  grounds, 
and  the  hollows  between  them  are  filled  with  innumerable 
tarns  and  lakes.  Crowds  of  boulders  have  been  perched 
on  the  sides  of  the  hills  and  dropped  over  the  plains.  With 
the  advent  of  a  milder  temperature  the  Arctic  vegetation 
gradually  disappeared  from  the  plains.  Driven  up  step  by 
step  before  the  advancing  flora  from  more  genial  climates, 
it  retired-  into  the  mountains,  and  there  to  this  day  con- 
tinues to  maintain  itself.  The  present  Alpine  flora  of  the 
Pyrenees,  the  Alps,  Britain,  and  Scandinavia,  is  thus  a 
living  record  of  the  ice-age.  The  reindeer  and  his  friends 
have  long  since  been  forced  to  return  to  their  northern 
homes. 

After  this  long  succession  of  physical  revolutions,  man 
appears  as  a  denizen  of  the  Europe  thus  prepared  for  him. 
The  earliest  records  of  his  presence  reveal  him  as  a  fisher 
and  hunter,  with  rude  flint- pointed  spear  and  harpoon. 
And  doubtless  for  many  a  dim  century  such  was  his  con- 
dition. He  made  no  more  impress  on  external  nature 
than  one  of  the  beasts  which  he  chased.  But  in  course  of 
time,  as  civilisation  grew,  he  asserted  his  claim  to  be  one 
of  the  geographical  forces  of  the  globe.  Not  content  with 
gathering  the  fruits  and  capturing  the  animals  which  he 
found  needful  for  his  wants,  he  gradually  entered  into  a 
contest  with  nature  to  subdue  the  earth  and  to  possess  it. 
Nowhere  has  this  warfare  been  fought  out  so  vigorously  as 


xin]  GEOGRAPHICAL  EVOLUTION.  305 

on  the  surface  of  Europe.  On  the  one  hand,  wide  dark 
regions,  of  ancient  forest  have  given  place  to  smiling  corn- 
fields. Peat  and  moor  have  made  way  for  pasture  and 
tillage.  On  the  other  hand,  by  the  clearance  of  wood- 
lands the  rainfall  has  been  so  diminished  that  drought  and 
barrenness  have  spread  where  verdure  and  luxuriance  once 
prevailed.  Rivers  have  been  straitened  and  made  to  keep 
their  channels,  the  sea  has  been  barred  back  from  its  former 
shores.  For  many  generations  the  surface  of  the  continent 
has  been  covered  with  roads,  villages  and  towns,  bridges, 
aqueducts  and  canals,  to  which  this  century  has  added  a 
multitudinous  network  of  railways,  with  their  embankments 
and  tunnels.  In  short,  wherever  man  has  lived,  the  ground 
beneath  him  bears  witness  to  his  presence.  It  is  slowly 
covered  with  a  stratum  either  wholly  formed  by  him  or 
due  in  great  measure  to  his  operations.  The  soil  under 
old  cities  has  been  increased  to  a  depth  of  many  feet  by 
the  rubbish  of  his  buildings ;  the  level  of  the  streets  of 
modern  Rome  stands  high  above  that  of  the  pavements  of 
the  Caesars,  and  that  again  above  the  roadways  of  the  early 
Republic.  Over  cultivated  fields  his  potsherds  are  turned 
up  in  abundance  by  the  plough.  The  loam  has  risen  within 
the  walls  of  his  graveyards  as  generation  after  generation 
has  mouldered  into  dust. 

It  must  be  owned  that  man,  in  much  of  his  struggle 
with  the  world  around  him,  has  fought  blindly  for  his  own 
ultimate  interests.  His  contest,  successful  for  the  moment, 
has  too  often  led  to  sure  and  sad  disaster.  Stripping  forests 
from  hill  and  mountain,  he  has  gained  his  immediate  object 
in  the  possession  of  their  abundant  stores  of  timber ;  but 
he  has  laid  open  the  slopes  to  be  parched  by  drought,  or 
swept  bare  by  rain.  Countries  once  rich  in  beauty,  and 
plenteous  in  all  that  was  needful  for  his  support,  are  now 

x 


306  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xm 

burnt  and  barren,  or  almost  denuded  of  their  soil.  Gradu- 
ally he  has  been  taught,  by  his  own  bitter  experience,  that 
while  his  aim  still  is  to  subdue  the  earth,  he  can  attain  it, 
not  by  setting  nature  and  her  laws  at  defiance,  but  by 
enlisting  them  in  his  service.  He  has  learnt  at  last  to  be 
the  minister  and  interpreter  of  nature,  and  he  finds  in  her 
a  ready  and  unrepining  slave. 

In  fine,  looking  back  across  the  long  cycles  of  change 
through  which  the  land  has  been  shaped  into  its  present 
form,  let  us  realise  that  these  geographical  revolutions  are 
not  events  wholly  of  the  dim  past,  but  that  they  are  still 
in  progress.  So  slow  and  measured  has  been  their  march, 
that  even  from  the  earliest  times  of  human  history  they 
seem  hardly  to  have  advanced  at  all.  But  none  the  less 
are  they  surely  and  steadily  transpiring  around  us.  In  the 
fall  of  rain  and  the  flow  of  rivers,  in  the  bubble  of  springs 
and  the  silence  of  frost,  in  the  quiet  creep  of  glaciers  and 
the  tumultuous  rush  of  ocean  waves,  in  the  tremor  of  the 
earthquake  and  the  outburst  of  the  volcano,  we  may 
recognise  the  same  play  of  terrestrial  forces  by  which  the 
framework  of  the  continents  has  been  step  by  step  evolved. 
In  this  light  the  familiar  phenomena  of  our  daily  experience 
acquire  an  historical  interest  and  dignity.  Through  them 
we  are  enabled  to  bring  the  remote  past  vividly  before  us, 
and  to  look  forward  hopefully  to  that  great  future  in  which, 
in  the  physical  not  less  than  in  the  mcral  world,  man  is  to 
be  a  fellow-worker  with  God. 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  307 


XIV. 

THE  GEOLOGICAL  INFLUENCES  WHICH  HAVE 
AFFECTED  THE  COURSE  OF  BRITISH  HIS- 
TORY.1 

PROBABLY  few  readers  realise  to  how  large  an  extent  the 
events  of  history  have  been  influenced  by  the  geological 
structure  of  the  ground  whereon  they  have  been  enacted. 
I  propose  to  illustrate  this  influence  from  some  of  the  more 
salient  features  in  the  early  human  occupation  of  the  British 
Islands,  and  in  the  subsequent  historical  progress  of  the 
English  people.  No  better  proof  of  the  reality  of  the  rela- 
tion in  question  could  be  given  than  the  familiar  contrast 
between  the  heart  of  England  and  the  heart  of  Scotland. 
The  one  area  is  a  region  of  low  plains,  inhabited  by  an 
English-speaking  race ;  richly  agricultural  in  one  part, 
teeming  with  a  busy  mining  population  in  another ;  dotted 
with  large  cities ;  the  air  often  foul  from  the  smoke  of 
thousands  of  chimneys,  and  resonant  with  the  clanking  of 
innumerable  manufactories  and  the  screams  of  locomotives 
flying  hither  and  thither  over  a  network  of  railways.  The 
other  region  is  one  of  rugged  mountains  and  narrow  glens 

1  Introductory  Lecture  at  the  opening  of  the  session  of  the  Class 
of  Geology  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  November  1881.  Mac- 
millarts  Magazine,  March  1882. 


3o8  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

tenanted  by  a  Celtic  race  that,  keeping  to  its  old  Gaelic 
tongue  and  primitive  habits,  has  never  built  towns,  hardly 
even  villages — a  region  partly  devoted  to  pasture  and  still 
haunted  by  the  game  and  wild  animals  of  primeval  times, 
but  with  no  industrial  centres,  no  manufactures  of  any 
kind,  and  only  a  feeble  agriculture  that  struggles  for  exist- 
ence along  the  bottoms  of  the  valleys.  Now,  why  should 
two  parts  of  the  same  small  country  differ  so  widely  from 
each  other?  To  give  a  complete  answer  to  the  question 
would  of  course  involve  a  detailed  examination  of  the  his- 
tory of  each  area.  But  we  should  find  that  fundamentally 
the  differences  have  arisen  from  the  originally  utterly  dis- 
tinct geological  structure  of  the  two  regions.  This  diversity 
of  structure  initiated  the  divergences  in  human  characteris- 
tics even  in  far  prehistoric  times,  and  it  continues,  even  in 
spite  of  the  blending  influences  of  modern  civilisation,  to 
maintain  them  down  to  the  present  day. 

Let  us  first  briefly  consider  what  was  the  probable  con- 
dition of  Britain  at  the  time  when  the  earliest  human  beings 
appeared  in  the  country.  At  that  ancient  epoch  there  can 
be  no  doubt  that  the  British  Islands  still  formed  part  of 
the  mainland  of  Continental  Europe.  There  is  reason  to 
believe  that  the  general  level  of  these  islands  may  have 
been  then  considerably  higher  than  it  has  been  since. 
From  the  shape  of  the  bottom  of  the  Atlantic  immediately 
to  the  west  of  our  area,  as  revealed  by  the  abundant  sound- 
ings and  dredgings  of  recent  years,  it  is  evident  that  if  the 
British  Islands  were  now  raised  even  1000  feet  or  more 
above  their  present  level,  they  would  not  thereby  gain  more 
than  a  belt  of  lowland  somewhere  about  200  miles  broad 
on  their  western  border.  They  stand,  in  fact,  nearly  upon 
the  edge  of  the  great  "European  plateau  which,  about  230 
miles  to  the  west  of  them,  plunges  rapidly  down  into  the 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  309 

abysses  of  the  Atlantic.  It  is  perfectly  certain,  therefore, 
that  though  our  area  was  formerly  prolonged  westward 
beyond  its  present?  limits,  there  has  never  been  any  import- 
ant mass  of  land  to  the  west  of  us  in  recent  geological 
times,  or  within  what  we  call  the  human  period,  probably 
never  at  any  geological  epoch  at  all.  Every  successive 
wave  of  migration,  whether  of  plant  or  of  animal,  must 
have  come  from  the  other  or  eastern  side.  But  though  our 
country  could  never  have  stretched  much  beyond  its  pre- 
sent westward  limits,  it  once  undoubtedly  spread  eastward 
over  the  site  of  what  is  now  the  North  Sea.  Even  at  the 
present  day,  an  elevation  of  less  than  600  feet  would  con- 
vert the  whole  of  that  sea  into  dry  land  from  the  north  of 
Shetland  to  the  headlands  of  Brittany.  At  the  time  when 
these  wide  plains  united  Britain  to  the  mainland,  the 
Thames  was  no  doubt  a  tributary  of  the  Rhine,  which,  in 
its  course  northward,  may  have  received  other  affluents 
from  the  east  of  Britain  before  it  poured  its  waters  into 
the  Atlantic  somewhere  between  the  heights  of  Shetland 
and  the  mountainous  coasts  of  Southern  Norway. 

There  is  evidence  of  remarkable  oscillations  of  climate 
at  the  epoch  of  the  advent  of  man  into  this  part  of  Europe. 
A  time  of  intense  cold,  known  as  the  Ice  Age  or  Glacial 
period,  was  drawing  to  a  close.  Its  glaciers,  frozen  rivers 
and  laVes,  and  floating  icebergs,  had  converted  most  of 
Britain,  and  the  whole  of  Northern  Europe,  into  a  waste  of 
ice  and  snow,  such  as  North  Greenland  still  is;  but  the 
height  of  the  cold  was  past,  and  there  now  came  intervals 
of  milder  seasons,  when  the  wintry  mantle  was  withdrawn 
northward,  so  as  to  allow  the  vegetation  and  the  roaming 
animals  of  more  temperate  latitudes  to  spread  westward 
into  Britain.  From  time  to  time  a  renewal  of  the  cold 
once  more  sent  down  the  glaciers  into  the  valleys,  or  even 


3io  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

into  the  sea,  froze  the  rivers  over  in  winter,  and  allowed 
the  Arctic  flora  and  fauna  again  to  migrate  southward  into 
tracts  from  which  the  temperate  plants  and  animals  were 
forced  by  the  increasing  cold  to  retreat.  At  last,  however, 
the  Arctic  conditions  of  climate  ceased  to  reappear,  and  the 
Arctic  vegetation,  with  its  accompanying  reindeer,  musk- 
sheep,  lemming,  Arctic  fox,  glutton,  and  other  northern 
animals,  retreated  from  our  low  grounds.  Of  these  ancient 
chilly  periods,  however,  the  Arctic  plants  still  found  on  our 
mountain  tops  remain  as  living  witnesses,  for  they  are 
doubtless  descendants  of  the  northern  vegetation  which 
overspread  Britain  when  still  part  of  the  continent,  and 
before  the  arrival  of  our  present  temperate  flora  and  fauna. 

Previous  to  the  final  retreat  of  the  ice,  the  alternating 
warmer  intervals  brought  into  Britain  many  wild  animals 
from  wilder  regions  to  the  south.  Horses,  stags,  Irish  elks, 
roe  deer,  wild  oxen,  and  bisons  roamed  over  the  plains ; 
wild  boars,  three  kinds  of  rhinoceros,  two  kinds  of  elephant, 
brown  bears  and  grizzly  bears,  haunted  the  forests.  The 
rivers  were  tenanted  by  the  hippopotamus,  beaver,  otter, 
water-rat;  while  among  the  carnivora  were  wolves,  foxes, 
wild  cats,  hyaenas,  and  lions.  Many  of  these  animals  must 
have  moved  in  herds  across  the  plains,  over  which  the 
North  Sea  now  rolls.  Their  bones  have  been  dredged  up 
in  hundreds  by  the  fishermen  from  the  surface  of  the 
Dogger-Bank. 

Such  were  the  denizens  of  southern  England  when  man 
made  his  first  appearance  there.  It  seems  not  unlikely 
that  he  came  some  time  before  the  close  of  the  long  Ice 
Age.  He  may  have  been  temporarily  driven  out  of  the 
country  by  the  returning  cold  periods,  but  would  find  his 
way  back  as  the  climate  ameliorated.  Much  ingenuity  has 
been  expended  in  tracing  a  succession  of  civilisation  in  this 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  311 

primeval  human  population  of  Britain.  Among  the  records 
of  its  presence  there  have  been  supposed  to  be  traces  of  an 
earlier  race  of  hunters  of  a  low  order,  furnished  with  the 
rudest  possible  stone  implements ;  and  a  later  people,  who, 
out  of  the  bones  of  the  animals  they  captured,  supplied 
themselves  with  deftly-made,  and  even  artistically-decorated 
weapons.  All  that  seems  safely  deducible  from  the  evi- 
dence, however,  may  be  summed  up  in  saying  that  the 
paleolithic  men,  or  men  of  the  older  stone  period,  who 
hunted  over  the  plains,  and  fished  in  the  rivers,  and  lived 
in  the  caves  of  this  country,  have  left  behind  them  imple- 
ments, rude  indeed,  but  no  doubt  quite  suitable  for  their 
purpose ;  and  likewise  other  weapons  and  tools  of  a  more 
finished  kind,  which  bear  a  close  relationship  to  the  imple- 
ments still  in  use  among  the  modern  Eskimos.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  the  Eskimos  are  their  direct  descendants, 
driven  into  the  inhospitable  north  by  the  pressure  of  more 
warlike  races. 

The  rude  hunter  and  dweller  in  caves  passed  away 
before  the  advent  of  the  farmer  and  herdsman  of  the  Neo- 
lithic or  later  stone  period.  We  know  much  more  of  him 
than  of  his  predecessors.  He  was  short  of  stature,  with  an 
oblong  head,  and  probably  a  dark  skin  and  dark  curly  hair. 
His  implements  of  stone  were  often  artistically  fashioned 
and  polished.  Though  still  a  hunter  and  fisher,  he  knew 
also  how  to  farm.  He  had  flocks  and  herds  of  domestic 
animals  ;  he  was  acquainted  with  the  arts  of  spinning  and 
weaving,  could  make  a  rude  kind  of  pottery,  and  excavate 
holes  and  subterranean  galleries  in  the  chalk  for  the  extrac- 
tion of  flints  for  his  weapons  and  tools.  That  he  had  some 
notion  of  a  future  state  may  be  inferred  from  arrow-heads 
pottery,  and  implements  of  various  kinds  which  are  found 
in  his  graves,  evidently  placed  there  for  the  use  of  the 


312  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

departed.  He  has  been  regarded  as  probably  of  a  Noiv 
Aryan  race,  of  which  perhaps  the  modern  Basques  are 
lineal  descendants,  isolated  among  the  fastnesses  of  the 
Pyrenees  by  the  advance  of  younger  tribes.  Traces  of  his 
former  presence  in  Britain  have  been  conjectured  to  be 
recognisable  in  the  small  dark  Welshmen,  and  the  short 
swarthy  Irishmen  of  the  west  of  Ireland. 

When  the  earliest  Neolithic  men  appeared  in  this 
region,  Britain  may  have  still  been  united  to  the  continent. 
But  the  connection  was  eventually  broken.  It  is  obvious 
that  no  event  in  the  geological  history  of  Britain  can  have 
had  a  more  powerful  influence  on  its  human  history  than 
the  separation  of  the  country  as  a  group  of  islands  cut  off 
by  a  considerable  channel  from  direct  communication  with 
the  mainland  of  Europe.  Let  us  consider  for  a  moment 
how  the  disconnection  was  probably  brought  about. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  at  the  time  when  Britain 
became  an  island,  the  general  contour  of  the  country  was, 
on  the  whole,  what  it  is  still.  The  same  groups  of  moun- 
tains rose  above  the  same  plains  and  valleys,  which  were 
traversed  by  the  same  winding  rivers.  We  know  that  in 
the  glacial  and  later  periods  considerable  oscillations  of 
level  took  place  ;  for,  on  the  one  hand,  beds  of  sea-shells 
are  found  at  heights  of  1200  or  1300  feet  above  the 
present  sea-level ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  ancient  forest- 
covered  soils  are  now  seen  below  tide-mark.  It  was 
doubtless  mainly  subsidence  that  produced  the  isolation 
of  Britain.  The  whole  area  slowly  sank,  until  the  lower 
tracts  were  submerged,  the  last  low  ridge  connecting  the 
land  with  France  was  overflowed,  and  Britain  became  a 
group  of  islands.  But  unquestionably  the  isolation  was 
helped  by  the  ceaseless  wear  and  tear  of  the  superficial 
agencies  which  are  still  busy  at  the  same  task.  The  slow 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  313 

but  sure  washing  of  descending  rain,  the  erosion  of  water- 
courses, and  the  gnawing  of  sea-waves,  all  told  in  the  long 
degradation.  And  thus,  foundering  from  want  of  support 
below,  and  eaten  away  by  attacks  above,  the  low  lands 
gradually  diminished,  and  disappeared  beneath  the  sea. 

Now,  in  this  process  of  separation,  Ireland  unfortunately 
became  detached  from  Britain.  We  have  had  ample  occa- 
sion in  recent  years  to  observe  how  much  this  geological 
change  has  affected  our  domestic  history.  That  the  isola- 
tion of  Ireland  took  place  before  Britain  had  been  separated 
from  the  continent  may  be  inferred  from  a  comparison  of 
the  distribution  of  living  plants  and  animals.  Of  course, 
the  interval  which  had  then  elapsed  since  the  submergences 
and  ice-sheets  of  the  glacial  period  must  have  been  of 
prodigious  duration,  if  measured  by  ordinary  human  stand- 
ards. Yet  it  was  too  short  to  enable  the  plants  and 
animals  of  Central  Europe  completely  to  possess  themselves 
of  the  British  area.  Generation  after  generation  they  were 
moving  westward,  but  long  before  they  could  all  reach  the 
north-western  seaboard,  Ireland  had  become  an  island,  so 
that  their  further  march  in  that  direction  was  arrested,  and 
before  the  subsequent  advancing  bands  had  come  as  far 
as  Britain,  it  too  had  been  separated  by  a  sea  channel 
which  finally  barred  their  progress.  Comparing  the  total 
land  mammals  of  the  west  of  Europe,  we  find  that  while 
Germany  has  ninety  species,  Britain  has  forty,  and  Ireland 
only  twenty-two.  The  reptiles  and  amphibia  of  Germany 
number  twenty-two,  those  of  Britain  thirteen,  and  those  of 
Ireland  four.  Again,  even  among  the  winged  tribes,  where 
the  capacity  for  dispersal  is  so  much  greater,  Britain  pos- 
sesses twelve  species  of  bats,  while  Ireland  has  no  more 
than  seven,  and  130  land  birds  to  no  in  Ireland.  The 
same  discrepancy  is  traceable  in  the  flora,  for  while  the 


314  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

total  number  of  species  of  flowering  plants  and  ferns  found 
in  Britain  amounts  to  1425,  those  of  Ireland  number  970 
— about  two-thirds  of  the  British  flora.  Such  facts  as  these 
are  not  explicable  by  any  difference  of  climate  rendering 
Ireland  less  fit  for  the  reception  of  more  varied  vegetation 
and  animal  life ;  for  the  climate  of  Ireland  is  really  more 
equable  and  genial  than  that  of  the  regions  lying  to  the  east 
of  it.  They  receive  a  natural  and  consistent  interpretation 
on  the  assumption  of  the  gradual  separation  of  the  British 
Islands  during  a  continuous  north-westward  migration  of 
the  present  flora  and  fauna  from  Central  Europe. 

The  last  neck  of  land  which  united  Britain  to  the 
mainland  was  probably  that  through  which  the  Strait  of 
Dover  now  runs.  Apart  from  the  general  subsidence  of 
the  whole  North  Sea  area,  which  is  attested  by  submerged 
forests  on  both  sides,  it  is  not  difficult  to  perceive  how 
greatly  the  widening  of  the  channel  has  been  aided  by 
waves  and  tidal  currents.  The  cliffs  of  Kent  on  the  one 
side  and  of  the  Boulonnais  on  the  other,  ceaselessly  battered 
by  the  sea,  and  sapped  by  the  trickle  of  percolating  springs, 
are  crumbling  before  our  very  eyes.  The  scour  of  the 
strong  tides  which  pour  alternately  up  and  down  the  strait, 
must  have  helped  also  to  deepen  the  Channel.  And  yet, 
in  spite  of  the  subsidence  and  this  constant  erosion,  the 
depression  remains  so  shallow  that  its  deepest  parts  are 
less  than  180  feet  below  the  surface.  As  has  often  been 
remarked,  if  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  could  be  shifted  from  the 
heart  of  London  to  the  middle  of  the  strait  more  than  half 
of  it  would  rise  above  water. 

At  what  relative  time  in  the  human  occupation  of  the 
region  this  channel  was  finally  opened  cannot  be  deter- 
mined. At  first  the  strait  was  doubtless  much  narrower 
than  it  has  since  become,  so  that  it  would  not  oppose  the 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  315 

same  obstacle  to  free  intercourse  which  it  now  does,  and 
Neolithic  man  may  have  readily  traversed  it  in  his  light 
coracle  of  skins.  Be  this  as  it  may,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  old  Basque  or  Iberian  stock  had  for  many  ages 
inhabited  Britain  before  the  succeeding  wave  of  human 
migration  advanced  to  overflow  and  efface  it.  The  next 
invaders — the  first  advance-guard  of  the  great  Aryan  family 
—were  Celts,  whose  descendants  still  form  a  considerable 
part  of  the  population  of  the  British  Isles.  The  Celt 
differed  in  many  respects  from  the  small  swarthy  Iberian 
whom  he  supplanted.  He  was  tall,  round-headed,  and  fair- 
skinned,  with  red  or  brown  hair.  Endowed  with  greater 
bodily  strength  and  pugnacity,  he  drove  before  him  the 
older  smaller  race  of  short  oblong-headed  men,  gradually 
extirpating  them,  or  leaving  here  and  there,  in  less  attractive 
portions  of  the  country,  small  island-like  remnants  of  them 
which  insensibly  mingled  with  their  conquerors,  though, 
as  I  have  already  remarked,  traces  of  these  remnants  are 
perhaps  partially  recognisable  in  the  characteristic  Iberian- 
like  lineaments  of  some  districts  of  the  country  even  at  the 
present  day. 

The  Celts,  as  we  now  find  them  in  Britain,  belong  to 
two  distinct  divisions  of  the  race,  the  Irish  or  Gaelic,  and 
the  Welsh  or  Cymric.  Some  difference  of  opinion  has 
arisen  as  to  which  of  these  branches  appeared  in  the 
country  first.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  the  question  is  dis- 
cussed on  the  evidence  of  geological  analogy,  the  unques- 
tionable priority  should  be  assigned  to  the  Gaels.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Celts  came  from  the  east.  They 
had  already  overspread  Gaul  and  Belgium  before  they 
invaded  Britain.  The  tribe  which  is  found  on  the  most 
northerly  and  westerly  tracts  should  be  the  older,  having 
crossed,  on  its  way,  the  regions  lying  to  the  east,  while  on 


316  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

the  other  hand,  the  race  occupying  the  eastern  tracts  should 
be  of  later  origin.  We  ought  to  judge  of  the  spread  of  the 
human  population  as  we  do  of  that  of  the  flora  and  fauna. 
Had  England  been  already  occupied  by  the  Welsh,  Cymric 
or  British  branch,  it  is  inconceivable  that  the  Irish  or 
Gaelic  branch  could  have  marched  through  the  territory 
so  occupied,  and  have  established  itself  in  Scotland  and 
Ireland.  The  Gaels  were,  no  doubt,  the  first  to  arrive. 
Finding  the  country  inhabited  by  the  little  Neolithic  folk 
they  dispossessed  them,  and  spread  by  degrees  over  the 
whole  of  the  islands.  At  a  later  time  the  Cymry  arose. 
We  are  not  here  concerned  with  the  question  whether 
these  originated  by  a  gradual  bifurcation  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Celtic  race  after  its  settlement  within  Britain, 
or  came  as  a  later  Celtic  wave  of  migration  from  the  con- 
tinent. It  is  enough  to  notice  that  they  are  found  at  the 
beginning  of  the  historical  period  to  be  in  possession  of 
England,  Wales,  and  the  south  of  Scotland  up  to  the 
estuary  of  the  Clyde.  It  is  improbable  that  the  Gaels, 
who  no  doubt  once  occupied  the  same  attractive  region, 
would  have  willingly  quitted  it  for  the  more  inhospitable 
moors  of  Scotland  and  the  distant  bogs  and  fenlands  of 
Ireland.  It  is  much  more  likely  that  they  were  driven 
forcibly  out  of  it.  Possibly  the  traditions  they  carried  with 
them  of  the  greater  fertility  of  England  may  have  instigated 
the  numerous  inroads  which  from  early  Roman  times  down- 
wards they  made  to  recover  the  lands  of  their  forefathers. 
Crossing  from  Ireland  they  repossessed  themselves  of  the 
west  of  Wales,  and  sweeping  down  from  the  Scottish  High- 
lands they  repeatedly  burst  across  the  Roman  wall,  carrying 
pillage  and  rapine  far  into  the  province  where  their  Cymric 
cousins  had  begun  to  learn  some  of  the  arts  and  effeminacy 
of  Roman  civilisation. 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  317 

Looking  at  the  territory  occupied  by  the  Cymry  at  the 
time  of  their  greatest  extension,  we  can  see  how  their 
course  northward  was  influenced  by .  geological  structure. 
As  they  advanced  along  the  plains  which  lay  on  the  west 
side  of  the  great  Pennine  chain  of  the  centre  and  north  of 
England,  they  encountered  the  range  of  fells  which  con- 
nects the  mountain  group  of  Cumberland  and  Westmore- 
land with  the  uplands  of  Yorkshire  and  Durham.  This 
would  probably  be  for  some  time  a  barrier  to  their  progress. 
But  after  crossing  it  by  some  of  the  deep  valleys  by  which 
it  is  trenched,  they  would  find  themselves  in  the  wide 
plains  of  the  Eden  and  the  Solway.  Still  pushing  their 
way  northward,  and  driving  the  Gaels  before  them,  they 
would  naturally  follow  the  valley  of  the  Nith,  leaving  on 
the  left  hand  the  wild  mountainous  region  of  Galloway, 
or  "  country  of  the  Gael,"  to  which  the  conquered  tribe 
retired,  and  on  the  right  the  high  moorlands  about  the 
head  of  Clydesdale  and  Tweeddale.  Emerging  at  last 
upon  the  lowlands  of  Ayrshire  and  lower  Clydesdale,  they 
would  spread  over  them  until  their  further  march  was 
arrested  by  the  great  line  of  the  Highland  mountains. 
Into  these  fastnesses,  stoutly  defended  by  the  Pictish  Gaels, 
they  seem  never  to  have  penetrated.  Eut  they  built,  as 
their  northern  outpost,  the  city  and  castle  of  Alcluyd,  where 
the  picturesque  rock  of  Dumbarton,  or  "  fort  of  the  Britons," 
towers  above  the  Clyde. 

At  one  time,  therefore,  the  Cymry  extended  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Clyde  to  the  south  of  England.  One  lan- 
guage—  Welsh  and  its  dialects — appears  to  have  been 
spoken  throughout  that  territory.  Hence  the  battles  of 
King  Arthur,  which,  from  the  evidence  of  the  ancient 
Welsh  poems,  appear  to  have  been  fought,  not  in  the 
south-west  of  England,  as  is  usually  supposed,  but  in  the 


318  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

middle  of  Scotland,  against  the  fierce  Gwyddyl  Ffichti  or 
Picts  of  the  north  and  the  heathen  swarming  from  be- 
yond the  sea, .  were  sung  all  the  way  down  into  Wales  and 
Devon,  and  across  the  Channel  among  the  vales  of  Brittany, 
whence,  becoming  with  every  generation  more  mystical  and 
marvellous,  they  grew  into  favourite  themes  of  the  romantic 
poetry  of  Europe. 

The  Roman  occupation  affected  chiefly  the  lowlands  of 
England  and  Scotland  where  the  more  recent  geological 
formations  extend  in  broad  plains  or  plateaux.  Numerous 
towns  were  built  there,  between  which  splendid  roads 
extended  across  the  country.  The  British  inhabitants  of 
these  lowlands  were  not  extirpated,  but  continued  to  live 
on  the  lands  which  they  had  tilled  of  old,  more  or  less 
affected  by  the  Roman  civilisation  with  which,  for  some 
four  centuries  or  more,  they  were  brought  in  contact.  But 
the  regions  occupied  by  the  more  ancient  rocks,  rising 
into  rugged  forest-covered  mountains,  offered  an  effective 
barrier  to  the  march  of  the  Roman  legions,  and  afforded 
a  shelter  within  which  the  natives  could  preserve  their 
ancient  manners  and  language  with  but  little  change.  The 
Romans  occupied  the  broad  central  lowland  region  of 
Scotland  which  is  formed  by  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  and 
Carboniferous  strata,  extending  up  to  the  base  of  the 
Highlands.  But  though  they  inflicted  severe  defeats  upon 
the  wild  barbarians  who  issued  from  the  dark  glens,  and 
though  they  seem  to  have  been  led  by  Severus  round  by 
the  Aberdeenshire  low  grounds  to  the  shores  of  the  Moray 
Firth,  and  to  have  returned  through  the  heart  of  the  High- 
lands, they  were  never  able  permanently  to  brii.g  any  part 
of  the  mountainous  area  of  crystalline  rocks  under  their 
rule. 

The  same  geological  influences  which  guided  the  pro- 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  319 

gresE  of  the  Roman  armies  may  be  traced  in  the  subsequent 
Teutonic  invasions  of  Angles,  Saxons,  Jutes,  and  Norwegians. 
Arriving  from  the  east  and  north-east,  these  hordes  found 
level  lowlands  open  to  their  attack.  Where  no  impene- 
trable thicket,  forest,  fenland,  or  mountainous  barrier  im- 
peded their  advance,  they  rapidly  pushed  inland,  utterly 
extirpating  the  British  population  and  driving  its  remnants 
steadily  westward.  By  the  end  of  the  sixth  century  the 
Britons  had  disappeared  from  the  eastern  half  of  the  island 
south  of  the  Firth  of  Forth.  Their  frontier,  everywhere 
obstinately  defended,  was  very  unequal  in  its  capabilities  of 
defence.  In  the  north,  where  they  had  been  driven  across 
bare  moors  and  bleak  uplands,  they  found  these  inhospit- 
able tracts  for  a  time  a  barrier  to  the  further  advance  of  the 
enemy ;  but  where  they  stood  face  to  face  with  their  foe  in 
the  plains  they  could  not  permanently  resist  his  advance. 
This  difference  in  physical  contour  and  geological  structure 
led  to  the  final  disruption  of  the  Cymric  tract  of  country 
by  the  two  most  memorable  battles  in  the  early  history  of 
England. 

Between  the  Britons  of  South  Wales  and  those  of 
Devon  and  Cornwall  lay  the  rich  vale  of  the  Severn. 
Across  this  plain  there  once  spread  in  ancient  geological 
times  a  thick  sheet  of  Jurassic  strata  of  which  the  bold 
escarpment  of  the  Cotswold  Hills  forms  a  remnant.  The 
valley  has  been  in  the  course  of  ages  hollowed  out  of  these 
rocks,  the  depth  of  which  is  only  partly  represented  by  the 
height  of  the  Cotswold  plateau.  The  Romans  had  found 
their  way  into  this  fertile  plain,  and,  attracted  by  the  hot 
springs  which  still  rise  there,  had  built  the  venerable  city 
of  Bath  and  other  towns.  One  hundred  and  seven  years 
after  the  Romans  quitted  Britain,  the  West  Saxons,  who 
had  gradually  pushed  their  way  westward  up  the  valley  of 


520  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

the  Thames,  found  themselves  on  the  edge  of  the  Cotswold 
plateau,  looking  down  upon  the  rich  and  long  settled  plains 
of  the  Severn.  Descending  from  these  heights,  they  fought 
in  5  7  7  the  decisive  battle  of  Deorham,  which  had  the  effect 
of  giving  them  possession  of  the  Severn  valley,  and  thus  of 
isolating  the  Britons  of  Devon  and  Cornwall  from  the  rest 
of  their  kinsmen.  Driven  thus  into  the  south-west  corner 
of  England  upon  ancient  Devonian  and  granitic  rocks, 
poorer  in  soil,  but  rich  in  wealth  of  tin  and  copper,  these 
Britons  maintained  their  individuality  for  many  centuries. 
Though  they  have  now  gradually  been  fused  into  the  sur- 
rounding English-speaking  people,  it  was  only  about  the 
middle  of  last  century  that  they  ceased  to  use  their  ancient 
Celtic  tongue. 

Still  more  important  was  the  advance  of  the  Angles  on 
the  north  side  of  Wales.  The  older  Palaeozoic  rocks  of  the 
principality  form  a  mass  of  high  grounds  which,  flanked 
with  a  belt  of  coal-bearing  strata,  descend  into  the  plains 
of  Cheshire.  Younger  formations  of  soft  red  Triassic  marl 
and  sandstone  stretch  northward  to  the  base  of  the  Carbon- 
iferous and  Silurian  hills  of  north  Lancashire.  This  strip 
of  level  and  fertile  ground,  bounded  on  the  eastern  side  by 
high  desert  moors  and  impenetrable  forests,  connected  the 
Britons  of  Wales  with  those  of  the  Cumbrian  uplands,  and, 
for  nearly  200  years  after  the  Romans  had  left  Britain, 
was  subject  to  no  foreign  invasion,  save  perhaps  occasional 
piratical  descents  from  the  Irish  coasts.  But  at  last,  in  the 
year  607,  the  Angles,  who  had  overspread  the  whole  region 
from  the  Firth  of  Forth  to  the  south  of  Suffolk,  crossed  the 
fastnesses  of  the  Pennine  Chain  and  burst  upon  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  plains  of  the  Dee.  A  great  battle  was  fought 
at  Chester  in  which  the, Britons  were  routed.  The  Angles 
obtained  permanent  possession  of  these  lowlands,  and  thus 


K-7]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  321 

the  Welsh  were  effectually  cut  off  from  the  Britons  of 
Cumbria  and  Strathclyde.  The  latter  have  gradually 
mingled  with  their  Teutonic  neighbours,  though  the  names 
of  many  a  hill  and  river  bear  witness  to  their  former  sway. 
The  Welsh,  on  the  other  hand,  driven  into  their  hilly  and 
mountainous  tracts  of  ancient  Palaeozoic  rocks,  have  main- 
tained their  separate  language  and  customs  down  to  the 
present  day. 

Turning  now  to  the  conflict  between  the  Celtic  and 
Teutonic  races  in  Scotland,  we  notice  in  how  marked  a 
manner  it  was  directed  by  the  geological  structure  of  the 
country.  The  level  Secondary  formations  which,  under- 
lying the  plains,  form  so  notable  a  feature  in  the  scenery  of 
England,  are  almost  wholly  absent  from  Scotland.  The 
Palaeozoic  rocks  of  the  latter  kingdom  have  been  so 
crumpled  and  broken,  so  invaded  by  intrusions  of  igneous 
matter  from  below,  and  over  two-thirds  of  the  country 
rendered  so  crystalline  and  massive,  that  they  stand  up  for 
the  most  part  as  high  tablelands,  deeply  trenched  by  narrow 
valleys.  Only  along  the  central  counties  between  the  base 
of  the  Highlands  on  the  one  side  and  the  southern  uplands 
on  the  other,  where  younger  Palaeozoic  formations  occur, 
are  there  any  considerable  tracts  of  lowland,  and  even  these 
are  everywhere  interrupted  by  protrusions  of  igneous  rock 
forming  minor  groups  of  hills  or  isolated  crags  like  those 
that  form  so  characteristic  a  feature  in  the  landscapes 
around  Edinburgh.  In  old  times  dense  forests  and  im- 
penetrable morasses  covered  much  of  the  land.  A  country 
fashioned  and  clothed  in  this  manner  is  much  more  suitable 
for  defence  than  for  attack.  The  high  mountainous  interior 
of  the  north,  composed  of  the  more  ancient  crystalline 
rocks,  which  had  sheltered  the  Caledonian  tribes  from  the 
well-ordered  advance  of  the  Roman  legions,  now  equally 

Y 


322  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

protected  them  from  the  sudden  swoop  of  Saxon  and 
Scandinavian  sea-pirates.  Neither  Roman  nor  Teuton 
ever  made  any  lasting  conquest  of  that  territory.  It  has 
remained  in  the  hands  of  its  Celtic  conquerors  till  the  pre- 
sent time. 

But  the  case  has  been  otherwise  with  the  tracts  where 
the  younger  Palaeozoic  deposits  spread  out  from  the  base 
of  the  Highland  mountains.  These  strata  have  not  par- 
taken of  the  violent  corrugations  and  marked  crystallisation 
to  which  the  older  rocks  have  been  subjected.  On  the 
contrary,  they  extend  in  gentle  undulations  forming  level 
plains,  and  strips  of  lowland  between  the  foot  of  the  more 
ancient  hills  and  the  margin  of  the  sea.  It  was  on  these 
platforms  of  undisturbed  strata  that  invaders  could  most 
successfully  establish  themselves.  So  dominant  has  been 
this  geological  influence,  that  the  line  of  boundary  between 
the  crystalline  rocks  and  the  Old  Red  Sandstone,  from  the 
north  of  Caithness  to  the  coast  of  Kincardineshire,  was 
almost  precisely  that  of  the  frontier  established  between 
the  old  Celtic  natives  and  the  later  hordes  of  Danes  and 
Northmen.  To  this  day,  in  spite  of  the  inevitable  com- 
mingling of  the  races,  it  still  serves  to  define  the  respective 
areas  of  the  Gaelic-speaking  and  English-speaking  popula- 
tions. On  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  we  hear  only  English, 
often  with  a  northern  accent,  and  even  with  not  a  few 
northern  words  that  seem  to  remind  us  of  the  Norse  blood 
which  flows  in  the  veins  of  these  hardy  fisher-folk  and 
farmers.  We  meet  with  groups  of  villages  and  towns ;  the 
houses,  though  often  poor  and  dirty,  are  for  the  most  part 
solidly  built  of  hewn  stone  and  mortar,  with  well-made  roofs 
of  thatch,  slate,  or  flagstone.  The  fuel  in  ordinary  use  is 
coal  brought  by  sea  from  the  south.  But  no  sooner  do  we 
penetrate  within  the  area  of  the  crystalline  rocks  than  all 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  323 

appears  changed.  Gaelic  is  now  the  vernacular  tongue. 
There  are  few  or  no  villages.  The  houses,  built  of  boulders 
gathered  from  the  soil  and  held  together  with  mere  clay  or 
earth,  are  covered  with  frail  roofs  of  ferns,  straw,  or  heather, 
kept  down  by  stone-weighted  ropes  of  the  same  materials. 
Fireplaces  and  chimneys  are  not  always  present,  and  the 
pungent  blue  smoke  from  fires  of  peat  or  turf  finds  its  way 
out  by  door  and  window,  or  beneath  the  begrimed  rafters. 
The  geological  contrast  of  structure  and  scenery  which 
allowed  the  Teutonic  invaders  to  drive  the  older  Celtic 
people  from  the  coast-line,  but  prevented  them  from  ad- 
vancing inland,  has  sufficed  during  all  the  subsequent 
centuries  to  keep  the  two  races  apart 

On  the  north-western  coasts  of  the  island  there  are 
none  of  the  fringes  of  more  recent  formations  which  have 
had  so  marked  an  influence  on  the  east  side.  From  the 
north  of  Sutherland  to  the  headlands  of  Argyle  the  more 
ancient  rocks  of  the  country  rise  steep  and  rugged  out  of 
the  sea,  projecting  in  long  bare  promontories,  for  ever 
washed  by  the  restless  surge  of  the  Atlantic.  Here  and 
there  the  coast -line  sinks  into  a  sheltered  bay,  or  is  inter- 
rupted by  some  long  winding  inlet  that  admits  the  ebb  and 
flow  of  the  ocean  tides  far  into  the  heart  of  the  mountains. 
Only  in  such  depressions  could  a  seafaring  people  find  safe 
harbours  and  fix  their  settlements.  When  the  Norsemen 
sailed  round  the  north-west  of  Scotland  they  found  there 
the  counterpart  of  their  own  native  country — the  same  type 
of  bare,  rocky,  island -fringed  coast -line  sweeping  up  into 
bleak  mountains,  winding  into  long  sea-lochs  or  fjords 
beneath  the  shadow  of  sombre  pine -forests,  and  to  the 
west  the  familiar  sweep  of  the  same  wide  blue  ocean.  So 
striking  even  now  is  this  resemblance,  that  the  Scot  who 
for  the  first  time  sails  along  the  western  seaboard  of 


324  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

Norway  can  hardly  realise  that  he  is  not  skirting  the  coast- 
line of  Inverness,  Ross,  or  Sutherland.  Such  a  form 
of  coast  forbade  easy  communication  by  land  between 
valley  and  valley.  Detached  settlements  arose  in  the  more 
sheltered  bays,  where  glens,  opening  inland,  afforded  ground 
for  tillage  and  pasture.  But  the  intercourse  between  them 
would  be  almost  wholly  by  boat,  for  there  could  be  no 
continuous  line  of  farms,  villages,  and  roads  like  those 
for  which  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  selvages  afforded  such 
facilities  on  the  eastern  coast  Hence,  though  the  Norse- 
men possessed  themselves  of  every  available  bay  and  inlet, 
driving  the  Celts  into  the  more  barren  interior,  the  natural 
contours  made  it  impossible  that  their  hold  of  the  ground 
should  be  so  firm  as  that  of  their  kinsmen  in  the  east. 
When  that  hold  began  to  relax,  the  Gaelic  natives  of  the 
glens  came  down  once  more  to  the  sea,  and  all  obvious 
trace  of  the  Norse  occupation  eventually  disappeared,  save 
in  the  names  given  by  the  sea-rovers  to  the  islands,  pro- 
montories, and  inlets — the  "ays,"  "  nishes,"  or  "nesses," 
and  "fords"  or  fjords  —  which,  having  been  adopted  by 
the  Celtic  natives,  show  that  there  must  have  been  some 
communication  and  probable  intermarriage  between  the 
races.  Among  the  outer  islands  the  effects  of  the  Nor- 
wegian occupation  were  naturally  more  enduring,  though 
even  there  the  Celtic  race  has  long  recovered  its  ground. 
Only  in  the  Orkney  and  Shetland  group  have  the  Vikings 
left  upon  the  physical  frame  and  the  language  of  the  people 
the  strong  impress  of  their  former  presence.  To  this  day 
a  Shetlander  speaks  of  going  to  Scotland,  meaning  the 
mainland,  much  as  a  Lowland  Scot  might  talk  of  visiting 
England,  or  an  Englishman  of  crossing  to  Ireland. 

But  besides  governing  in  no   small  degree  the  distri- 
bution of  races  in  Britain,  the  geological  structure  of  the 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  325 

country  has  probably  not  been  without  its  influence  upon 
the  temperament  of  the  people.  Let  us  take  the  case  of 
the  Celts,  originally  one  great  race,  with  no  doubt  the 
same  average  type  of  mental  and  moral  disposition,  as 
they  unquestionably  possessed  the  same  general  build  of 
body  and  cast  of  features.  Probably  nowhere  within  our 
region  have  they  remained  unmixed  with  a  foreign  element, 
which,  together  with  the  varying  political  conditions  under 
which  they  have  lived,  must  have  distinctly  affected  their 
character.  But  after  every  allowance  has  been  made  for 
these  several  influences,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  are 
residual  differences  which  cannot  be  explained  except  by 
the  effects  of  environment.  The  Celt  of  Ireland  and  of 
the  Scottish  Highlands  was  originally  the  same  being;  he 
crossed  freely  from  country  to  country;  his  language, 
manners  and  customs,  arts,  religion,  were  the  same  on 
both  sides  of  the  channel,  yet  no  two  natives  of  the  British 
Islands  are  now  marked  by  more  characteristic  differences. 
The  Irishman  seems  to  have  changed  less  than  the  High- 
lander ;  he  has  retained  the  light-hearted  gaiety,  wit, 
impulsiveness  and  excitability,  together  with  that  want  of 
dogged  resolution  and  that  indifference  to  the  stern  neces- 
sities of  duty  which  we  regard  as  pre-eminently  typical  of 
the  Celtic  temperament.  The  Highlander,  on  the  other 
hand,  cannot  be  called  either  merry  or  witty ;  he  is  rather 
of  a  self-restrained,  reserved,  unexpansive,  and  even  perhaps 
somewhat  sullen  disposition.  His  music  partakes  of  the 
melancholy  cadence  of  the  winds  that  sigh  through  his 
lonely  glens;  his  religion,  too,  one  of  the  strongest  and 
noblest  features  of  his  character,  retains  still  much  of  the 
gloomy  tone  of  a  bygone  time.  Yet  he  is  courteous, 
dutiful,  determinedly  persevering,  unflinching  as  a  foe, 
unwearied  as  a  friend,  fitted  alike  to  follow  with  soldier-like 


326  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

obedience,  and  to  lead  with  courage,  skill,  and  energy — a 
man  who  has  done  much  in  every  climate  to  sustain  and 
expand  the  reputation  of  the  British  Empire. 

Now,  what  has  led  to  so  decided  a  contrast?  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  one  fundamental  cause  is  to  be  traced  to 
the  great  difference  between  the  geological  structure  and 
consequent  scenery  of  Ireland  and  the  Highlands.  By  far 
the  greater  part  of  Ireland  is  occupied  by  the  Carboniferous 
limestone,  which,  in  gently  undulating  sheets,  spreads  out 
as  a  vast  plain.  Round  the  margin  of  this  plain  the  older 
formations  rise  as  a  broken  ring  of  high  ground,  while  here 
and  there  from  the  surface  of  the  plain  itself  they  tower 
into  isolated  hills  or  hilly  groups  ;  but  there  is  no  extensive 
area  of  mountains.  The  soil  is  generally  sufficiently  fertile, 
the  climate  soft,  and  the  limestone  plains  are  carpeted  with 
that  rich  verdant  pasture  which  has  suggested  the  name  of 
the  Emerald  Isle.  In  such  a  region,  so  long  as  the  people 
are  left  free  from  foreign  interference,  there  can  be  but 
little  to  mar  the  gay,  careless,  childlike  temperament  of  the 
Celtic  nature.  If  the  country  yields  no  vast  wealth,  it  yet 
can  furnish  with  but  little  labour  all  the  necessaries  of  live. 
The  Irishman  is  naturally  attached  to  his  holding.  His 
fathers  for  generations  past  have  cultivated  the  same  little 
plots.  He  sees  no  reason  why  he  should  try  to  be  better 
than  they,  and  he  resents,  as  an  injury  never  to  be  forgiven, 
the  attempt  to  remove  him  to  where  he  may  elsewhere 
improve  his  fortunes.  The  Highlander,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  no  such  broad  fertile  plains  around  him.  Placed  in  a 
glen,  separated  from  his  neighbours  in  the  next  glens  by 
high  ranges  of  rugged  hills,  he  finds  a  soil  scant  and  stony, 
a  climate  wet,  cold,  and  uncertain.  He  has  to  fight  with 
the  elements  a  never-ending  battle,  wherein  he  is  often  the 
loser.  The  dark  mountains  that  frown  above  him  gather 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  327 

around  their  summits  the  cloudy  screen  which  keeps  the 
sun  from  ripening  his  miserable  patch  of  corn,  or  rots  it 
with  perpetual  rains  after  it  has  been  painfully  cut.  He 
stands  among  the  mountains  face  to  face  with  Nature  in  her 
wilder  moods.  Storm  and  tempest,  mist-wreath  and  whirl- 
wind, the  roar  of  waterfalls,  the  rush  of  swollen  streams, 
the  crash  of  loosened  landslips,  which  he  may  seem  hardly 
to  notice,  do  not  pass  without  bringing,  unconsciously  per- 
haps, to  his  imagination  their  ministry  of  terror.  Hence 
the  playful  mirthfulness  and  light-hearted  ease  of  the  Celtic 
temperament  have  in  his  case  been  curdled  into  a  stubborn- 
ness which  may  be  stolid  obstinacy  or  undaunted  perse- 
verance, according  to  the  circumstances  which  develop 
it.  Like  his  own  granitic  hills  he  has  grown  hard  and 
enduring,  not  without  a  tinge  of  melancholy  suggestive  of 
the  sadness  that  lingers  among  his  wind-swept  glens,  and 
that  hangs  about  the  slopes  of  birk  round  the  quiet  waters 
of  his  lonely  lakes.  The  difference  between  Irishman  and 
Scot  thus  somewhat  resembles,  though  on  a  minor  scale, 
that  between  the  Celt  of  lowland  France  and  the  Celt  of  the 
Swiss  Alps,  and  the  cause  of  the  difference  is  doubtless 
traceable  in  great  measure  to  a  similar  kind  of  contrast  in 
their  respective  surroundings. 

If  now  we  turn  to  the  influences  which  have  been  at 
work  in  the  distribution  of  the  population  of  the  country 
and  the  development  of  the  national  industries,  we  find 
them  in  large  degree  of  a  geological  kind. 

In  the  first  place,  the  feral  ground,  or  territory  left  in 
a  state  of  nature  and  given  up  to  game,  lies  mostly  upon 
rocks  which,  protruding  almost  everywhere  to  the  surface 
and  only  scantily  and  sparsely  covered  with  a  poor  soil, 
are  naturally  incapable  of  cultivation.  The  crystalline 
formations  of  the  Scottish  Highlands  may  be  taken  as  an 


328  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiT 

example  of  this  kind  of  territory.  The  grouse-moors  and 
deer-forests  of  that  region  exist  there  not  merely  because 
the  proprietors  of  the  land  have  so  willed  it,  but  because 
over  hundreds  of  square  miles  the  ground  itself  could  be 
turned  to  no  better  use,  for  it  can  neither  be  tilled  nor 
pastured.  Much  patriotic  nonsense  has  been  written  about 
the  enormity  of  retaining  so  much  land  as  game  preserves. 
But  in  this,  as  in  so  many  other  matters,  man  must  be 
content  to  be  the  servant  of  Nature.  He  cannot  plant 
crops  where  she  has  appointed  that  they  shall  never  grow ; 
nor  can  he  pasture  flocks  of  sheep  where  she  has  decreed 
that  only  the  fox,  the  wild  cat,  and  the  eagle  shall  find  a 
home. 

In  the  second  place,  the  true  pasture  lands — that  is, 
the  tracts  which  are  too  high  or  sterile  for  cultivation,  but 
which  are  not  too  rocky  to  refuse  to  yield,  when  their 
heathy  covering  is  burnt  off,  a  sweet  grassy  herbage, 
excellent  for  sheep  and  cattle — lie  mainly  on  elevated  areas 
of  non-crystalline  Palaeozoic  rocks.  The  long  range  of 
pastoral  uplands  in  the  South  of  Scotland,  and  the  fells  of 
Cumberland,  Northumberland,  and  Yorkshire,  are  good 
examples.  These  lonely  wilds  might  be  grouped  into 
districts  each  marked  off  by  certain  distinctive  types  of 
geological  structure,  and  consequently  of  scenery.  And  it 
might,  for  aught  I  know,  be  possible  to  show  that  these 
distinctions  have  not  been  without  their  influence  upon  the 
generations  of  shepherds  who  have  spent  their  solitary  lives 
among  them;  that  in  character,  legends,  superstitions,  song, 
the  peasants  of  Lammermuir  might  be  distinguished  from 
those  of  Liddesdale,  and  both  from  those  of  Cumberland 
and  Yorkshire — the  distinction,  subtle  perhaps  and  hardly 
definable,  pointing  more  or  less  clearly  to  the  contrasts 
between  their  respective  surroundings. 


Xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  329 

In  the  third  place,  the  sites  of  towns  and  villages  may 
often  be  traced  to  a  guiding  geological  influence.  Going 
back  to  feudal  times,  we  at  once  observe  to  what  a  large 
extent  the  positions  of  the  castles  of  the  nobles  were  deter- 
mined by  the  form  of  the  ground,  and  notably  by  the 
prominence  of  some  crag  which,  rising  well  above  the  rest 
of  the  country,  commanded  a  wide  view  and  was  capable 
of  defence.  Across  the  lowlands  of  Scotland  such  crags 
are  abundantly  scattered.  They  consist  for  the  most  part 
of  hard  projections  of  igneous  rock,  from  which  the  softer 
sandstones  and  shales,  that  once  surrounded  and  covered 
them,  have  been  worn  away.  Many  of  them  are  crowned 
with  mediaeval  fortresses,  some  of  which  stand  out  among 
the  most  famous  spots  in  the  history  of  the  country.  Dum- 
barton, Stirling,  Blackness,  Edinburgh,  Tantallon,  Dunbar, 
the  Bass,  are  familiar  names  in  the  stormy  annals  of  Scot- 
land. A  strong  castle  naturally  gathered  around  its  walls 
the  peasantry  of  the  neighbourhood  for  protection  against 
the  common  foe,  and  thus  by  degrees  the  original  collection 
of  wooden  booths  or  stone  huts  grew  into  a  village  or  even 
into  a  populous  town.  The  Scottish  metropolis  undoubtedly 
owes  its  existence  in  this  way  to  the  bold  crag  of  basalt  on 
which  its  ancient  castle  stands. 

In  more  recent  times  the  development  of  the  mining 
industries  of  the  country  has  powerfully  affected  both  the 
growth  and  decay  of  towns.  Comparing  in  this  respect 
the  maps  of  to-day  with  those  of  150  or  200  years  ago,  we 
cannot  but  be  struck  with  the  remarkable  changes  that  have 
taken  place  in  the  interval.  Some  places  which  were  then 
of  but  minor  importance  have  now  advanced  to  the  first 
rank,  while  others  that  were  among  the  chief  towns  of  the 
realm  have  either  hardly  advanced  at  all  or  have  positively 
declined.  If  now  we  turn  to  a  geological  map,  we  find 


330  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

that  in  almost  all  cases  the  growth  has  taken  place  within 
or  near  to  some  important  mineral  field,  while  the  decad- 
ence occurs  in  tracts  where  there  are  no  workable  minerals. 
Look,  for  example,  at  the  prodigious  increase  of  such  towns 
as  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  Manchester,  Newcastle,  Birmingham, 
and  Middlesborough.  Each  of  these  owes  its  advance  in 
population  and  wealth  to  its  position  in  the  midst  of,  or 
close  to,  fields  of  coal  and  iron.  Contrast,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  sleepy,  quiet,  unprogressive  content,  and  even 
sometimes  unmistakable  decay,  of  not  a  few  county  towns 
in  our  agricultural  districts. 

Closely  connected  with  this  subject  is  the  remarkable 
transference  of  population  which  for  the  last  generation  or 
two  has  been  in  such  rapid  progress  among  us.  The  large 
manufacturing  towns  are  increasing  at  the  expense  of  the 
rural  districts.  The  general  distribution  of  the  population 
is  changing,  and  the  change  is  obviously  underlaid  by  a 
geological  cause.  People  are  drawn  to  the  districts  where 
they  can  obtain  most  employment  and  best  pay ;  and  these 
districts  are  necessarily  those  where  coal  and  iron  can  be 
obtained,  without  which  no  branch  of  our  manufacturing 
industry  could  at  present  exist. 

In  the  fourth  place  the  style  of  architecture  in  different 
districts  is  largely  dependent  upon  the  character  of  their 
geology.  The  mere  presence  or  absence  of  building-stone 
creates  at  once  a  fundamental  distinction.  Hence  the 
contrast  between  the  brickwork  of  England,  where  building- 
stone  is  less  common,  and  the  stonework  of  Scotland, 
where  stone  abounds.  But  even  as  we  move  from  one 
part  of  a  stone-using  region  to  another,  marked  varieties  of 
style  may  be  observed,  according  to  local  geological  develop- 
ment. The  massive  yellow  limestone  blocks  of  Bath  or 
Portland,  the  thin  blue  flags  and  slates  of  the  Lake  district, 


xiv]  INFLUENCES  ON  BRITISH  HISTORY.  331 

the  thick  courses  of  deep  red  freestone  in  Dumfriesshire, 
the  bands  of  fine,  easily-dressed  white  sandstone  of  Edin- 
burgh, have  all  produced  certain  differences  of  style  and 
treatment.  To  a  geological  eye  that  passes  rapidly  through 
a  territory,  this  character  of  its  buildings  is  often  suggestive 
of  its  geology. 

In  the  fifth  and  last  place,  the  dominant  influence  of 
the  geology  of  a  country  upon  its  human  progress  is 
nowhere  more  marvellously  exhibited  than  in  the  growth 
of  British  commerce.  The  internal  trade  of  this  country 
may  be  spoken  of  as  its  life-blood,  pulsating  unceasingly 
along  a  network  of  railways.  This  vast  organism  possesses 
not  one  but  many  hearts,  from  each  of  which  a  vigorous 
circulation  proceeds.  Each  of  these  hearts  or  nerve-centres 
is  situated  on  or  near  a  mineral  region,  whence  its  nourish- 
ment comes.  The  history  of  the  development  of  our  system 
of  railways,  our  steam  machinery,  our  manufactures,  is  un- 
intelligible except  when  taken  together  with  the  opening 
up  of  our  resources  in  coal  and  iron. 

The  growth  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  the  country 
enforces  the  same  lesson.  Even,  however,  before  the  days 
of  steam  navigation,  her  geological  structure  gave  England 
a  distinct  advantage  over  her  neighbours  on  the  Continent. 
Owing  to  the  denudation  that  has  hollowed  out  the  surface 
of  the  country,  and  the  subsidence  that  has  depressed  the 
shoreward  tracts  beneath  the  sea,  the  coast-line  of  Britain 
abounds  in  admirable  natural  harbours,  which  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  Channel  and  North  Sea  are  hardly  to 
be  found.  There  can  be  no  question  that  in  the  infancy 
of  navigation  this  gave  a  superiority  for  which  hardly  any- 
thing else  could  compensate.  We  boast  that  it  is  our 
insular  position  and  our  English  blood  that  have  made 
us  sailors.  Let  us  remember  that,  in  spite  of  their  less 


332  GEOLOGICAL  SKETCHES.  [xiv 

favourable  position,  our  neighbours  on  the  opposite  shores 
of  the  Continent  have  become  excellent  sailors  too,  and 
that  if  we  have  been  enabled  to  lead  the  van  in  inter- 
national commerce  it  has  been  largely  due  to  the  abundant, 
safe,  and  commodious  inlets  in  our  coast-line  which  have 
sheltered  our  marine. 

Of  the  foreign  trade  of  the  country  it  is  not  needful  to 
speak.  Its  rapid  growth  during  the  present  century  is  dis- 
tinctly traceable  to  the  introduction  of  steam  navigation, 
and  therefore  directly  to  the  development  of  those  mineral 
resources  which  form  so  marked  an  element  in  the  fortu- 
nate geological  construction  of  the  British  Islands. 


THE  END. 


NOW    READY.        1  2mo.       PRICE,    $1.5O. 


The  Story  of  the  Hills 

A    BOOK    ABOUT    MOUNTAINS    FOR 
GENERAL     READERS. 


BY 

REV.    H.   N.   HUTCHINSON,   B.A.,   F.G.S., 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  THE   EARTH." 

With  Sixteen  full-page  Illustrations. 

Now  that  travelling  is  no  longer  a  luxury  for 
the  rich,  and  thousands  of  people  go  every  summer 
to  spend  their  holidays  among  the  mountains  of 
Europe,  and  ladies  climb  Mont  Blanc  or  ramble 
among  the  Carpathians,  there  must  be  many  who 
would  like  to  know  something  of  the  secret  of  the 
hills,  their  origin,  their  architecture,  and  the  forces 
that  made  them  what  they  are.  For  such  this  book 
is  chiefly  written.  —  From  the  Author's  Preface. 


&   CO., 
1  1  2   Fourth   Avenue,   New  York. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

EARTH  SCIENCES  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


(F4308slO)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


